Beigtilecelnee teh 
ae 


DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 


yh 


‘a 


igh fi 
She 
i 


) 


With iJ 


tae 


THE CLERICAL LIBRARY 


Eight Volumes, Cloth. Each, $1.50. 
Sent post or express paid on receipt of price 
SPECIAL Price FOR COMPLETE SETS. 


For Students and the Clergy of all denominations, is 
meant te furnish them with stimulus and suggestion in 
the various departments of their work. 

The best thoughts of the best religious writers are 
here furnished in a condensed form. 


1. Outline Sermons on the Old Testament. This 
volume, containing {39 outlines of sermons by 46 emi- 
nent English and American clergymen, is fully indexed 
by subjects and texts. 300 pages. 

2. Outline Sermons on the New Testament, Con- 
tains 300 outlines by 77 eminent English and American 
clergymen; fully indexed by subjects and texts. 284 pages. 

The outlines furnishedin these two volumes have been 
drawn from the leading Pulpit thinkers of almost every 
denomination in Great Britain and America. The sub- 
jects treated are practical rather than controversial. 

3. Outlines of Sermons to Children, This volume 
contains 97 outlines of sermons with numerous Anec- 
dotes, fully indexed by subjects and texts. 302 pages. 

4, Anecdotes I'lustrative of Old Testament Texts. 
529 anecdotes and illustrations, fully indexed by sub- 
jects and texts. Dkr. Guturiz says his hearers .often 
remember the illustrations in his sermons when they had 
forgotten the abstract truth. 338 pages. 

5. Anecdotes Illustrative of New Testament Texts. 
634 anecdotes and illustrations, fully indexed by sub- 
jects and texts. 392 pages. 

6. Expository Sermons and Outlines on the Old 
Testament, These sermons by distinguished preachers 
are rich in application and will be an education and in- 
spiration to many. 302 pages. 

7. Pulpit Prayers by Eminent Preachers. These 
prayers are fresh and strong; the ordinary ruts of con=- 
ventional forms are left and the fresh thoughts of living 
hearts are uttered. 290 pages. 

8. Platform and Pulpit Aids. Consisting of striking 
speeches and addresses on Home and Foreign Missions, 
the Bible, Sunday-school, Temperance, and kindred 
subjects, with illustrative anecdotes. Just the book an 
over-worked pastor who has many speeches to make, 
with little time for study, will appreciate. 294 pages. 


Che Clerical WBidvary. 


OUTLINES OF SERMONS TO CHILDREN, 


WITH 


. NUMEROUS ANECDOTES. 


Hew Pork 
FE. B. TREAT & COMPANY 


Office of THE TREASURY MAGAZINE 


241-243 West 23d Street 


1993 


AUTHORS OF SERMONS. 


a ee 


ALEXANDER ANDREW. 
WILLIAM ARNOT. 

A. BANNATYNE. 

JAMES BOLTON. 
ANDREW A. Bonar, D.D. 
Horatius Bonar, D.D. 
Marcus D. BUELL. 
JOHN CAIRNS, D.D. 
THOMAS CHAMPNESS. 
M. G. DANA. 

J. OswaLD DykEs, D.D. 
JOHN EpmonpD, D.D. 

R. F. FISHER. © 

W. H. Gray, D.D. 

T. P. JOHNSTON. 

J. MARSHALL Lane, D.D. 
J. LuDLow, D.D. 
THOMAS NICOL, B.D. 
W. R. NICOLL, M.A. 

T. TEIGNMOUTH SHORE 
E. SIMON. 

JAMES STALKER, M.A. 
J. WALKER. 

R. W. WEIR, M.A. 
JAMES WELLS, M.A. 
GEORGE WILSON, M.A, 
J. H. WILson, D.D. 

W. C. WRIGHT. 

J. B. YOUNG 


AY apenas Sch. R. 
a yet ‘ lg ~ 
A) a) 


mB 
we WY ON 


I. God,the Creator. Gen.i 31. “ And God saw every 
thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good.” 


ONE of our pleasant duties is to lead children to see God 
in nature, to mix up loving thoughts of Him with all their 
enjoyments of it. It would be a wretched thing to live in 
a house which a kind father had built expressly for them, 
and furnished to their taste, and yet never think of him. 
And is it not worse to grow up, as so many do, in the 
midst of God’s wonderful and beautiful works, utterly care- 
less of the glorious Creator and gracious Giver of them ? 
“The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib:” 
but we eat and drink from God’s hand daily, and are so 
engrossed with what the Hand contains, that we forget the 
Hand itself! 

Now our text will help us to do better. It shows us 
“every thing,” coming from God, fashioned by God, approved 
of God ; God’s eye is on it, His heart is in it, His arms are 
around it; “And God saw every thing that He had made, 
and, behold, it was very good.” This was how it appeared 
to Him as it lay fresh before Him six thousand years ago. 
He had just “finished” it; it was complete; and as He 
gazed upon it, as her mother does upon her newborn babe, 
it seemed, and it was, “very good.” It could not be im- 
proved ; it was perfect. How interesting it is thus to have 
God’s own report upon it; to be assured that He was 
satisned and delighted with it 

But now let us ask :— 

Why it was “very good”? 

What was “very good ” ? 

How it was “very good”? 

And then—Is it still “very good”? 


I. Why was it “very good” ? 
Was it not because it was the offspring of Jujfinite Wis- 
B 


299883 


2 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


dom, and Power, and Love? These would be certain to 
produce what was “very good ;” for Love would suggest 
it, Wisdom would contrive it, Power would do it. And 
there would be no flaw or failure; there could be none. 
Our rarest inventions, such as the watch or piano, fall short 
of God’s commonest creatures, such as the fly or the robin 
redbreast ; because we are finite—our wisdom, power, and 
love are limited. 

Again: They were “very good,” because they were 
called and guided into existence by Jesus. This is often 
plainly told us in the Gospels and Epistles. God com- 
missioned His own, His only son, to do it. Me was to 
have the honour of it, for God would put crowns upon His 
head from the beginning. Therefore, of course, God would 
rejoice in it, and consider it “very good.” Even to earthly 
parents, what their children do is doubly sweet. Their 
rough sketches are more prized than artists’ pictures, and 
their attempts at sculpture than Grecian statues. 

Then, too, it was “ very good,” because there was uo evil 
in it. There may have been unsightliness or ugliness, such 
as we have in toads and slugs ; there may have been poison, 
such as we have in the berry of the laurel ; there may have 
been ferocity, such as we have in the tiger or the eagle— 
we cannot prove that these are faults—but there was no 
sin. “Every thing” was innocent, untainted by Satan’s 
touch, fit for God to move about amongst in His holi- 
ness. 

And it was “ very good,” because it was ke God. It was 
a reflection, however feeble, of His mind, as a book is of the 
person who writes it. When in the Great Exhibition there 
are spread before us the myriads of articles which human 
ingenuity and skill and industry have devised, could we not 
judge from them what the designer himself was? Will 
they not resemble him and “declare” him to be ingenious, 
and skilful, and industrious? We shall not have him 
visibly before us; and yet we shall get a glimpse of him 
from his contributions. 

And so “everything that God made” is a manifestation 
of God Himself, and it must be “very good.” 

II. We ask, what was “very good” ? 

This we must answer ina shorter way. It was, “every 
thing which He had made.” And if we say, What was that ? 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 3 


We have but to cause to pass before us the splendid pano- 
rama which Moses was inspired to describe for our learning. 
It opens with light dividing the day from the night, so 
that we might have a time for activity and a time for rest. 
Then follows the firmament, or heavenly dome, the space 
between filled with suitable air for us to breathe. Then 
there was a separation of the sea from the land; the sea 
for us to sail on, and bathe in, the land for us to tread and 
cultivate. And immediately the land was carpeted with 
soft grass, and stocked with shade and fruit trees and 
vegetables, and ornamented with ferns and flowers. Then 
the sun was ordered to shine warmly and nourishingly on 
it, and the moon and the stars to cheer its darkness. These 
were its fires and candles. Next we have feathered fowl to 
enliven it with their songs and variegated plumage, and fish. 
to sport in its streams, and cattle to range its pastures, 
and wild beasts to inhabit its forests, and insects and 
reptiles to glitter as gems on it from pole to pole. Lastly, 
we have man himself, “in the image of God”—erect, 
shapely, comely, intelligent, speaking man—the king of this 
noble kingdom, to have dominion over it, and populate it, 
and replenish it, and subdue it, and use it! 

This is an outline of what was “very good.” You must 
resolve it into endless details and varieties for yourselves. 

III. How are they “very good”? 

In themselves. If the ocean or the sky, ifa horse or a 
cow, had never been intended for us, still would they not 
have been “very good ”—worthy of God’s admiration. 

“Very good” in their purposes. God meant them to be 
for our service. The vine to bear grapes for us, and the 
wheat, bread ; the bee to provide us with honey, the sheep 
with wool, the cat to catch our mice, the dog to watch our 
property—how “very good ” were these purposes? 

And this being so, how very good they are im their 
arrangements for it. Suppose the camel had been as un- 
tractable as the zebra, could we ever have got it to bridge 
the sandy deserts for us? Or suppose the elephant had 
been as savage as the leopard, could we ever have got it to 
toil for us in India? But God arranged for it by implant- 
ing docility in its huge frame. Or suppose the hen had 
been as swift and shy as the swallow, could we ever have 
got her to drop her eggs and sit on them when we desired. 


¥) 5 ‘ 
239883 


4 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


But God arranged for it, by implanting sociability within 
her. 

Thas, however you turn it about, “ every thing that God 
made was very good.” 

IV. And now we enquire, /s every thing “very good” 
still? 

Here we are ourselves, “made” by God. Here, sur- 
rounding us, are ten thousand things which He pronounced 
“very good” ages since. Are they very good now? May 
not a thing be “very good,” and yet have something very 
bad mingled with it? A bed of herbs is very good ; but it 
may be choked with weeds. But, alas! if this is true of our 
fields and gardens, it is not true of us. There is nothing 
about us which is very good. Body, soul and spirit have 
been spoilt by the Fall, which brought the thorns and 
thistles into our fields and gardens. They have not been 
spoilt by it, though it troubles them; we have, for we were 
transgressors. When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden 
fruit, we lost God’s favour, and His frown is marked on us 
in our infirmities, corruption and decay. We are not “very 
good” now, but very bad, very weak, and prone to what is 
wrong, and ignorant of God. 

But now observe that this will not be so always, for God 
is fetching very “ good things” out of this apparent frustra- 
tion of His plan. It is related that the best thing which 
ever happened to a tribe of Arabs was the sudden caving 
in of their common well, because they then resolved that 
they would cease to be dependent on such a frail resource, 
and each family should dig a well of their own. A farmer 
had his plot of Indian corn trampled on by a herd of 
bullocks. His neighbours pitied him sorely; but he 
ploughed it in and resowed it, and had a double crop from 
the rich manuring which the buried stalks supplied to the 
soil So God will by-and-by reveal to the universe that 
what the serpent believed to be incurable damage to His 
“very good” things, was over-ruled by Him to be indeed 
“very good” for them. 

And then remember that He zs restoring what 1s now 
very bad to be “very good.’ Do you doubt this? It is 
going on hour by hour in those who have embraced the 
Saviour. In a horticultural, poultry, and agricultural show, 
you notice how everything is being wrought to a higher 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 5 


pitch of size and elegance. You are astonished as you com- 
pare the blossoms and flowers of your infancy with the 
blossoms there? “ Can they be the descendants of these ?” 
you say. But a grander movement than this is silently 
going on in some children. The Lord is renewing them 
into “ His own image.” They have washed their inward 
robes, and whitened them in the blood of the Lamb. They 
have received from Him a tender, penitent heart ; and now 
they are increasing before Him, and under His nurture, in 
whatever is saintly and celestial. Already that in them is 
“very good ;” and soon, when they quit this debased and 
diseased fleshly frame, they will be absolutely “ very good.” 
There will be no spot or wrinkle in them. And then at 
the resurrection it will be the same with that debased and 
diseased earthly frame itself; it will leave its mortality in 
the grave, and rise to God. Oh, how “very good !” 

Is this your portion and prospect? If not, attend to it 
forthwith that it may be; for if it is not, you are “ very 
bad” in God’s sight, and you will be worse and worse, 
till you are ripe for a final outcasting from His blessed 
presence. 

Do be persuaded; do turn to Jesus, and beseech Him 
to gather you into that happy fold which He will never 
forsake, till of the humblest lamb in it God Himself shall 
say, “It is very good.” 

J. B. 


II. Abraham’s Trial. Gen. xxii.2. “And He said, Take 
now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get 
thee into the land of Mortah ; and offer him there for a burnt 
offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” 


WE will suppose that we are walking together on Mount 
Moriah ; of course it is a walk in thought, like as it were in 
a dream. And, as we doin dreams we must mix things, 
Times, places, facts, fancies, must be mingled together ; 
the teaching being, we trust, “truth as it is in Jesus.” We 
will suppose that we are visiting Mount Moriah some time 
after the occurrences of which we are told in this chapter, 
and the heads of this sermon are certain things which we 
shall suppose to see in our walk up to the mountain’s top. 


6 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


I. There is a finger-post at the bottom of the hill, 
labelled with the name Moriah. Ah! then we are right. 
That is where we want to go. 

But what can this name Moriah mean? Some learned 
people say one thing, some another; but you will not be far 
wrong if you say it means, the seeing of Jehovah ; perhaps 
His seeing us, perhaps our seeing Him; or rather both in 
one. The Lord provides, foresees for us, and shows Him- 
self so that we see Him. He provides by revealing Him- 
self. There is another finger-post on the top of the hill. 
It covers the place Jehovah-Jireh—“the Lord will see.” 
But Moriah is the same name turned round and made short. 
So the Lord, seeing and shining, showing the road by 
shining on it, is the beginning and the end of the path. 
Up the hill Moriah is up to the presence of God. It is 
the path of faith, “Offer on one of the mountains which I 
shall tell thee of,’ said God to Abraham; and He told 
him of it—showed it by showing Himself there. How 
He showed Himself we shall see. Meanwhile, let us go up 
this road of faith—it is rough and steep and hard. Ah! 
Abraham and Isaac found it so. All pilgrims find it so. 
But fear not; God sees and God shines. The walk of 
faith is with God and up to God. 

Now we are at the top of the hill, we notice traces of 
burning. 

II. There isa pile of ashes. Look down at this heap 
of ashes, and you may see written in it that “God did 
tempt Abraham,” ze try him. You know that fire 
scorches, melts and tests things. The Bible therefore often 
compares trial to fire. It is a very touching figure. For, 
like fire, trial is keen and sharp; but it does not hurt or 
destroy everything that is worth keeping. It refines and 
purifies the silver by consuming the refuse. We read of 
many fire-trials in the Bible; some of them having literal 
fire connected with them. When Aaron saw his two sons 
burned up in their sin before the Lord, his heart was in a 
furnace of sore anguish. When Job heard tale after tale 
of dire loss, till at last he was told of the death of all his 
sons and daughters, it was like as if the lightnings which 
burned up his flocks had fallen on his own head to scathe 
him. Christ’s cruel cross was a fire-trial such as never 
was passed through by any other. Nothing in Christ was 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 7 


condemned—for Satan had nothing in him. The last 
day will be a great fire-trial—burning up the earth and 
the works that are therein: and as Paul says in another 
sense, “ The fire shall try every man’s work of what sort 
it is.” 

The fire of hell is not said to be trial-fire. They burned 
refuse only in Tophet. The unquenchable fire is for chaff. 
Now let us consider Abraham’s fire-trial. “Take now thy 
son.” “Thy son.” There is the first burning coal, for 
children are dear,—you would not vex your parents if you 
knew how dear they hold you. “Thine only son.” There 
is another coal to the fire. One of two, or of many, had 
been hard ; but an only son!—that is hard indeed. Then, 
such a son—thy Isaac; there is more fuel to the fire. 
Isaac is “laughter ;” and his very name brings back to 
mind how, after long, long waiting, father and mother 
rejoiced over their child. No wonder that it should be 
added “ Whom thou lovest.” 

There is one faggot more: “ Take thy son and offer him.” 
To slay him! Oh, whata flame burns there! Yet there 
is something more—something that is like pouring oil in 
the furnace. This son was the child of promise. He was 
to be the father of a nation from which Christ was to 
spring. If he is killed, what becomes of the promise ? 

Do you remember how Shadrach, Meshach and Abed- 
nego went through a fiery furnace and had not even the 
smell of fire on them after they came out of it? Soit 
was with Abraham. His faith kept him from being burned. 
He said to himself, “God will keep His word. If I must 
kill Isaac, God will bring him to life again.” So, not to 
blind them, but in real hope, he said to the young men, 
“T and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come 
again unto you.” 

III. The sacrificial knife. There it lies among the ashes, 
with stains on it like blood-spots. There has been death 
here. Was Isaac, then, really slain? No, but there was 
the offering of one in his stead. So we find an inscription 
on both sides of this knife. On the one side the word 
Surrender ; on the other, Substitution. 

Surrender means giving up. Abraham gave up his son 
at God’s word. It was not the first thing God had asked 
him to give up. He left his country and his kinsfolk at 


8 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


God bidding. But God never asks us to give up any- 
thing except for something better than what we yield. 

Surrender is a good motto for life. Give up—for the 
sake of others, for Christ’s sake. You will be like your 
heavenly Father if you do. 

“For God gave up His Son to die, 
So gen’rous was His love. 

He did not ask Abraham to do what He was unwilling 
to do Himself. His own, His only, His beloved Son, He 
gave for us. 

The other inscription on the knife is Substitution. That 
is, one instead of another. The ram was offered instead 
of Isaac. It is hard to see the full meaning. The lesson 
that God taught Abraham was, Lord, Thy will! And 
what Moriah taught as a command, Calvary taught as an 
example. Look down through the years and see, on a 
little hill there are three crosses. One of them, the middle 
one, has One hanging on it who is the Lamb of God. 
That is the meaning of Jehovah-Jireh—‘“ the Lord will pro- 
vide.” Abraham did not quite understand what he spoke, 
only he spoke in trust, and was sure to find the reality 
better than his hope, when he said “The Lord will provide 
a lamb for a burnt offering.’ He saw and understood 
afterwards, for Jesus says, “ Your father Abraham greatly 
desired to see my day, and he has seen it and rejoiced.” 

J. E. 


-TII. Isaac. Gen. xxii. 40. “ And Abraham stretched forth 
his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.” 


THIS beautiful story wants looking into, if we would fully 
enjoy it and profit by it. It is like the brook in a meadow 
—pleasant to the eye; but the fish, and the water-cresses, 
and the polished pebbles in it, have to be searched for. It 
is not so much a mirror in which you have bright but 
shadowy reflections, as it is a microscope through which 
you see wonderful realities, which, but for it, must have 
remained hidden from us for ever. 

Two persons are mixed up in it; a man and a lad,a 
father and ason. Now, if you were grown-up people, we 
should perhaps call your attention chiefiy to the elder 
of the two—the man, the father; but as you are young 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 9 


yourselves, you will naturally be most interested in the 
lad, the son. Round him, therefore, let us gather; and 
God prepare us for the study! 

We will consider him,— 

I. As the beloved child. | 

II. As the pattern of obedience, 

III. As the type of Jesus. 

I. As the beloved child. 

The Scriptures show us many such children. Joseph, 
the beloved of Jacob; Samuel, the beloved of Hannah; 
Solomon, the beloved of David. From the earliest ages 
God has provided that sweetest home and best school for 
childhood, the fond parental bosom. How dark and piti- 
able it would be without it! But nurtured in it the little 
one grows up in sunshine, to shine itself by-and-by. 

Isaac was Abraham’s only child by his wife Sarah, and 
that was a reason why he was beloved ; but also, he was 
the child of his old age, given to him in his hundredth 
year, after he had been waiting for him, and hoping for 
him, and longing for him for half a century. ‘We dearly 
prize what cost us sighs,” says the proverb. 

Again, he was the child of promise—of Dzvine promise. 
In this sense, he was a special gift from God. God sent 
an angel from heaven to announce his birth, to assure his 
despairing mother that it should happen, though it would 
require a miracle. 

Thus they had him in promise long before they had 
him in their arms. They saw him in the promise long 
before they kissed him in his cradle. He was beloved 
of them long before his infant face was there to claim it of 
them. 

Directly he was in his swaddling clothes, they had a 
name ready for him. ‘We will call him Isaac,” that is 
“laughter ;” they were so glad,sohappy. “God has made 
me laugh,” his mother said. 

How beloved he was of them as he grew up! This 
appears in the fact that he gave a “great feast” on his 
weaning day, and that they banished Ishmael from the 
‘house because he dared to mock and tease him. Not a 
hair of his head should be touched, not a tear should trickle 
down his cheeks, if they could help it. Then it appears 
afterwards in their care to obtain him a wife. How 


Io SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


solemnly Eliezer the steward is summoned, instructed, 
and charged for that errand. It was as if they were a king 
and a queen setting about the marriage of the heir-apparent 
toathrone. Iam sure if some of us had a quarter of the 
pains taken to find us Rebekahs, we should be too proud 
to speak to them when they alighted from their camels. 

Thus, then, was Isaac beloved. This was his boyhood’s 
privilege and joy. May it be yours abundantly ; and may 
God enable you to value it, improve it, and be properly 
thankful for it! What a difference there is in bird’s nests ! 
How soft and warm are some—how hard and cheerless 
others! Should you not expect robins, and goldfinches, 
and nightingales, out of the wool, and moss, and feathers ; 
and from the dry sticks, hawks, magpies, and jackdaws? 
And so it is. 

II. As the pattern of obedience. 

This was a further cause for his being so beloved, that 
he was such a dutiful child. He was himself lovely and 
lovable. You have to ¢vy to love those who are wayward 
—it goes against the grain to be kind to them ; but those 
who are good lead you captive. You have to ze yourself 
to the former ; the latter entwine round you. Positively 
it is quite difficult to smile (cheap as smiles are) on certain 
unfledged folk of my acquaintance, it seems so like smiling 
on toads or rattlesnakes. Isaac was none of these. I 
doubt not he was all that Abraham and Sarah could have 
wished him to be. What do we read to the contrary? 
What single instance have we of his troubling them? 
Rather, is not the narrative of his conduct here intended 
as a specimen of his conduct generally? And, now, ob- 
serve it; it is unparalleled even in the Bible. 

On a certain morning, Abraham abruptly informed him 
that he was to attend him on a journey, of the length and 
object of which he was perfectly ignorant. They started 
early and travelled far. That evening closed upon them, 
and the morrow evening as well, and still they went for- 
ward. Presently Abraham pointed out to him a distant 
range of mountains, those on which the city of Jerusalem 
now stands or which surround her as ramparts. Then 
Abraham commanded the escort to remain with the ass 
where they were, whilst he and Isaac should ascend the hill 
Moriah to worship God. But, ere they parted with them, 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 11 


Abraham transferred the load of wood, which he had hewn 
in Beersheba, from the beast’s back to Isaac’s shoulders. 
Then, with a flaming torch in his grasp, and a steel blade 
in his girth, he and Isaac began theascent. As they toiled 
up Isaac was struck with a sudden thought. Here is the 
fire, the wood, the knife, but where is the lamb for a burnt 
offering? How foolish of us—how useless to go on! the 
principal thing forgotten. So he opened his mind to 
Abraham—What are we about? What shall we do? 
Abraham had a knife in his girth, but I fancy that that 
question of his darling put a knife into his heart. I don’t 
understand how he managed to answer him without chok- 
ing or crying out to God! _If he had flung himself on the 
ground in an agony and bloody sweat, and besought God 
to excuse him, this would not have surprised us. O Faith! 
what a triumph thou hadst here! Abraham calmly replied, 
“God will provede Himself a lamb for a burnt-offering.” 
But did he say no more? I doubt it. I have a notion 
that then and there he described to Isaac the dreadful 
secret, and persuaded him to yield his freeconsent. Heex- 
plained to him how God had selected zm for the lamb— 
how there was no escape from it, but in resisting God— 
how God assuredly could and would raise him up from the 
dead if necessary! And Isaac, instead of being indignant 
or defiant, or breaking away and running, as we should 
have done, submitted without a murmur, and kept straight 
on for the fatal spot. 

At any rate, when they were arrived there, he assisted 
Abraham in building the altar and spreading the faggots ; 
and then, when Abraham advanced with the cord, he had 
no remonstrances, no further inquiries, no entreaties to be 
spared. He surrendered himself as quietly as a kid ora 
turtle-dove to be pinioned, to be lifted and laid on the 
altar ; nay, when he watched the drawing of the dagger, 
when it was unsheathed and up it went to descend the 
next instant into his quivering flesh, even then there was 
not a word from him! He was content to die, and in that 
awful way, if Abraham required itof him. He might have 
appealed to him, reminded him of his faultless behaviour, 
begged him not to murder him, argued with him that it 
must be wrong He might have dared him to touch him, 
and walked off unscathed ; but odedzence forbade, and he 


12 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


preferred death to disobedience! What an example for 
us! what a practical illustration of that fifth law of the 
ten which is so apt to be forgotten in modern times, that 
we occasionally suppose the printers have accidentally 
dropped it from our Oxford and Cambridge editions ; or 
is it that we are afflicted with short memories, as the pious 
labourer hinted to the farmer that 4e evidently had, when 
he was despatching him with a wagon to the hay-field on 
Sunday. “Short memory, sir,” he said civilly, scratching 
his head ; “Isn't it, remember the Sabbath day to keep it 
holy, sir?” 

There is a nearly idiot girl in a village in America, who 
may be seen sitting by the hour by a well, to which her 
since buried mother directed her for drink, and into which 
she dropped the jug. She can’t be persuaded that she did 
not grieve her; she can’t forgive herself. 

A band of schoolfellows were tempting a companion to 
steal his father’s apples. “He won’t be angry ; he won't 
punish you if you are found out.” “That,” said he, “is 
just why I can’t doit. He is so kind to me that I should 
be a brute to displease him.” 

Happy those who have right views of obedience both to 
God and man, who have resolved to abide by it at what- 
ever sacrifice, who place it above their own whims and 
passions. It is a s¢traz¢t road, and it has thorns in it, but 
it is radiant with the light of God’s countenance, and it 
ends in His blissful presence. To leap its hedges is to 
forsake our own mercies. 

III. As the type of Jesus. 

Isaac’s obedience brought him this high honour of being 
the clearest type of Jesus that can be conceived, The 
animals which were actually slain in sacrifice were types of 
Him, but they failed in that they were merely animals. 
Noah and Job, and a list of men, were types of Him in His 
character ; but they were not types of His atonement, and 
it was His atonement which was His glory—His crowning 
achievement! It was here that Isaac was so peculiarly 
distinguished. He prefigured that precious act, out of 
which has sprung such a harvest of blessings to our fallen 
race, such a harvest of praise to God, that it will occupy 
eternity to reap it. 

What have we in possession or prospect which relieves 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 13 


us of our load of guilt, which cheers us under bereavement, 
which robs the grave of its gloom for us, which will absolve 
us at the judgment seat? The sole solid foundation of 
that was exhibited as in a picture when Isaac, panting 
but passive, awaited the sharp stroke which should let out 
his soul. 

As he had, so Jesus had, no will but His Father’s : as he 
did, so Jesus walked, steadily though wearily, to His execu- 
tion ; as Isaac carried the wood, so Jesus carried His cross. 
But there we stop. Isaac was killed as far as his own and 
his father’s determination were ‘concerned, but Jesus was 
killed indeed. Isaac was not killed, because if he had 
been, he could not have expiated his or our transgressions, 
for he was himself a transgressor. But Jesus was killed 
because His sufferings were God’s appointed and accepted 
atonement for the transgressions of the world. So, though 
Isaac was a lively type of Him, he was but a type. Jesus 
is our Isaac—the true “ Laughter” of whosoever embraces 
Him and clings to Him for salvation. 

The Lord Himself draw you to Him! Will you not 
visit Calvary at this season, and, in prayerful meditation, 
revive its memorable scenes? Be a witness of them, be 
a partaker in them, weep over them. Rest not until you 
can say.at His pierced feet there, as you cannot say of 
Isaac—“ He doved me and gave Himself for me!” 

J. B. 


IV. Joseph and his Brethren. Gen. xlv. 2. “And 
he wept aloud; and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh 
heard.” 


THIs Scripture in the Old Testament reminds us of another 
in the New Testament, so like it and yet very different. 
“And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises 
unto God : and the prisoners heard them.” Now we should 
have imagined that Joseph would have been the person to 
sing, Paul and Silas the persons to weep; for Joseph was 
surrounded with every happiness, whilst Paul and Silas 
were in a dungeon, in the dark, hungry and thirsty, their 
feet fast in the stocks, their backs torn and bleeding. . 

It is strange that though the two things—weeping and 


14 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


singing—seem so opposite to each other, they are often 
hand in hand; tears never fall faster than when our hearts 
are bursting with joy. 

It is an awful thing to hear a man weep aloud—generally 
he has good cause for it; well then, why did Joseph weep 
aloud? He has sent all his servants out of the room; he 
is alone with his brethren, and the first thing his servants 
hear is somebody weeping aloud! It is Joseph’s voice. 
Not another sound but his convulsive sobs. Can you 
guess why he thus wept aloud! We shall give six reasons 
for it. 

I. His pent up feelings. 

When we give way to our feelings directly they affect us 
we can get through without much trouble; but when we 
hide and restrain them for a while, they become turbulent ; 
just as a brook which has been dammed up with sticks and 
mud, will at last, with a rush and a roar, break the rampart 
and sweep all before it. 

Now Joseph had been “refraining himself” for months 
and on several very trying occasions. Is it amy wonder 
that when all this was at its height, it vented itself in 
these boisterous emotions ? 

II. There was the sight of Benjamin. 

He was his own dear brother, “my mother’s son,” and 
for twenty years they had been cruelly separated. Would 
not the sight of Benjamin help to unnerve Joseph? 

III. There were the thoughts of his father. 

His brethren had been speaking much of Jacob—of the 
“old man,” of his grey hairs, of how he pined for Joseph. 
This had stirred Joseph to the depths. 

IV. There was his harsh treatment of his brethren. 

This had been most difficult and yet most necessary. 
He had recognised them the instant they entered his 
presence, and as quickly he had determined to punish them 
for their own welfare. They had steeled themselves to his 
“anguish when he had besought them ;”’ now he will steel 
himself to theirs, till they are humbled and contrite. He put 
them through a rigorous course of discipline. His lessons 
for them had cut them like knives. He had charged them 
with meaning treachery, theft, falsehood. They believed 
him to be a tyrant, and yet his heart yearned towards 
them. 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 1§ 


— 


V. There was Judah’s earnest pleading. 

Study that remonstrance for yourselves. There are not 
more melting words in the Bible. They would have softened 
a very stone, and Joseph, no marvel, wept aloud after that 
intercession. 

VI. There was what he was about to disclose to them. 

Startling news has a fashion of choking our utterance 
and paralyzing our tongues. Who has not wept aloud when 
he was about to relate what would be sure to produce 
weeping aloud? And here Joseph had it on his lips, “I 
am Joseph! I am he whom ye sold into Egypt! God 
hath made me lord and ruler throughout Egypt!” Is it 
surprising that with this disclosure on his lips, Joseph wept 
aloud ere he could stammer it forth? 

But now arises the question, What do we weep aloud for ? 
All of us have fountains of tears in us, and various things 
will set them overflowing. It was a custom with the 
ancients to have small bottles in which they caught their 
tears at their friends’ sepulchres, and then these bottles 
were deposited in the urns which contained their ashes. 
David says, “ Put Thou my tears into Thy bottle.” What 
quantities of bottles some people could fill with tears. We 
will mention four things which we may properly weep 
aloud for, which we cannot bewail too much. 

1. Our sins. They offend and dishonour God. They 
defile and wound and destroy our souls. They crucified 
Jesus. We are indignant with the Jews and Romans for 
piercing His precious flesh on Calvary; but our sins were 
what compelled Him to be so tortured, they were the nails 
which fastened Him there. Oh, weep over your sins, as 
Peter did over his denial of Jesus. 

2. Our unkindnesses. We do not intend always to injure 
or distress ; but we say what does it, or we do what does 
it, and then we treat it lightly, whilst the sensitive sufferer . 
goes home refusing to be comforted. We wish children 
would learn and keep in mind these lines, 


“ Evil is wrought from want of thought 
As well as from want of heart.” 


There is nothing which will so haunt us, when we aire lying 
at the gates of death, as such unkindnesses. Then we shall 
bewail them ; but it is better to do so now, when we can 


16 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


pick out the thorn both from our own consciences and the 
wronged one’s side. 

3. Our ingratitudes. Who has nof these to mourn over? 
Ingratitude to God our Creator and Preserver ; ingratitude 
to Jesus, who redeemed us by His own shame and agony; 
ingratitude to the Holy Spirit, who has sought our salva- 
tion when we have disregarded it ; ingratitude to all those 
who are over us in the Lord. A young man whom he 
had rescued from drowning, was reproved by a Christian 
gentleman for Sabbath desecration; he actually swore at 
him, and bade him attend to his own business. But that 
base ingratitude rose up before him wherever he went. It 
wasted him ; and when sick on his couch, he beckoned his 
sister to him, and said in broken accents, “I am sinking 
fast, I have never forgiven myself. If I could have met 
him, and acknowledged my wickedness it would have re- 
lieved me. Pray for me.” 

4. Our wasted opportunities. If a girl who had been 
strolling in the parks or meadows before breakfast, came in 
laden with bunches of primroses and violets, with cowslips 
for bracelets, with daisies for brooches, you would not re- 
prove her, or consider that she had forfeited a splendid 
chance ; but now if every pebble in her ramble had been a 
diamond or an amethyst, and yet she came in with nothing 
but these fading blossoms, would you not exclaim: “Silly 
girl! you have missed a fortune; you have despised trea- 
sures.” And what shall we say of ourselves if we occupy 
ourselves in worldly vanities when God has strewn our path 
with what should enrich us for Heaven ? 

We might have gathered wisdom, which, “is above riches ;” 
we might have gained God’s favours; we might have 
adorned ourselves with virtues and graces ; but we let the 
whole train glide by us, without seizing on a single gem! 
Weep for these lost opportunities. Pour your tears at 
Jesus’ feet, and God will hear your tears and say, “I have 
blotted out as a cloud thy transgressions, for His sake who 
once wept aloud at Gethsemane for thee.” j 

. B. 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 17 


V. Go Forward. Exop. xiv. 15. “And the Lord said 
unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto Me? Speak unto the 
children of Israel, that they go forward.” 


“Go forward” This was the order which Moses was told 
by God to give to the children of Israel, and it was very 
needful that they should obey it. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, 
was pursuing and was not far behind them. They 
began to wish they had never left Egypt at all. But 
although they had lost confidence in God, Moses had not. 
He was sure that deliverance would come though he did 
not see how. He prayed to God, and the text gives God’s 
answer. 

But where could they go forward to? Before them, the 
mountains were high and threatening; and if they sought 
to climb them, they would become entangled, and separated 
from one another, and so become an easy prey for their 
pursuing foe. If they sought to go to the left hand, they 
must go into the Red Sea; for the ridge of mountains ran 
right into it, stretching into the water, and blocking up 
their path, so that they could not go along the shore. And 
if they went straight into the sea, it seemed as if they must 
be drowned. It stretched across for miles. Men could 
not wade in safety through it, much less could it be crossed 
by all these families of Israel. Humanly speaking, the 
way of the sea was the way of death. No doubt, there 
was an inviting valley on the landward side of that ridge 
of mountains; but that valley, though a pleasant and 
a tempting way, was a dangerous route for them to take. 
It would only lead them back, though by a winding 
way, to the land of bondage which they had left. It was 
in these circumstances that God told them to go forward, 
right into the bed of the Red Sea. They believed God, 
and they obeyed Him; and what was the result? A 
strong wind was sent to drive the waters back, and the 
people went through as if it had been dry land ; but when 
the Egyptians, who were following them, were in the 
middle of the sea, the wind ceased, the waters flowed on 
as they had done before, and when the morning dawned, 
Moses and the children of Israel were standing safe upon 
the further shore, and “Pharaoh and his chariots and 
horsemen were overthrown and covered by the waters-~ 

eF 


18 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


there remained not so much as one of them. Thus the 
Lord saved Israel that day, and Israel saw that great 
work, and the people believed the Lord and His servant 
Moses.” 

Good men in former times wrote all these things for our 
learning ; and this is a kind of parable from which we are 
called to learn the truth we should believe concerning God, 
and the duty God requires of man. Those who live only 
according to their natural and corrupted feelings, without 
the grace of God, are more truly slaves than these poor 
Israelites were, for Satan is a harder taskmaster than 
Pharaoh. Buta greater than Moses has come to deliver 
us from Satan’s power ; Jesus is our great King, guiding 
us from the enemy’s country to the heavenly Canaan. 

I. We should believe in Christ, and also obey Him — 
These children of Israel believed in Moses, and they 
showed their faith by leaving their homes in Egypt, by 
going forth towards the wilderness, and by entering the 
channel of the Red Sea, though its waters seemed ready 
to devour them. Let us believe in Jesus Christ as the Son 
of God and the Saviour of sinners; and let us show our 
faith by our obedience to His heavenly will. Let us leave 
the land of sin, and follow Him through good and bad 
report. 

But remember that God will neither have our obedience 
without faith, nor our faith without obedience. There are 
some who think they do not need to believe in Christ. 
They fancy they can themselves do all that is required ; 
but, indeed, they cannot. They are every day sinning 
against God ; and if they have no Saviour to believe in, 
how are they to find mercy to pardon them for the past, 
and grace to help them for the future? Without believing 
in Christ, we have no true love to God in our hearts ; and 
without love, we cannot give Him the obedience of children; 
and it is this obedience of the heart which our Father 
wishes, not the outward obedience only of works—it is the 
obedience of children, and not of slaves. 

There is a sense in which even good works will not 
please our Father, It is when they have not right motives, 
- and when we have not first given Him our hearts. Then 
our best works are but whited sepulchres, which inwardly 
are full of rottenness and dead men’s bones, Therefore 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 19 


——— 


it is that, when the sinner asks, “What must I do to be 
saved?” the answer of God is not, “Do good works,” or 
even, “Do your duty ;” it is, “ Believe in the Lord Jesus 
Christ,”—believe so as to love, and then from this fountain 
of love, let the pure stream of obedience flow forth. But 
though we must first believe, we must go on to obey. It 
would not have done for the Israelites to say, “We believe 
in God and in Moses, and we do not need to go forward, 
we only need to stand still and see the salvation of the 
Lord.” We are not meant to stand still, merely saying, 
“we believe,” until we die. ‘“ Faith without works is dead.” 
We have spiritual diseases, even the youngest of us. It is 
not enough for us to say we believe in Jesus Christ, as the 
Physician who can heal us; we need to prove our faith by 
going to Him, telling Him how we feel, hearing what He 
orders, and doing what He prescribes—otherwise our faith 
will not save us from death. This is what you must do, if 
you believe in Christ, and hearken to His teaching. Each 
of you has a garden tokeep. You must not let it be overrun 
with weeds and thorns and thistles. You must take the 
good seeds which God provides for you, and sow them in 
it. There are good plants that you can care for, and good 
trees that you can prune and watch, that they may bring 
forth good fruit. Your heart is like a castle, and you 
can take care to whom you open the door. Keep it shut 
against the enemies of God, and of Christ, and of your 
own souls. . Open it to Christ, and to all His servants and 
friends. And as you have power, so far, over your thoughts, 
so have you power over the language of your lips, and over 
the actions of your life. You must not think this is trying 
to save yourselves. It is because you believe in Christ 
and love Him that you know what to do, and wish to do 
what pleases Him. You listen to His voice, and you are 
able as well as wishful, in believing in Him, to do what is 
good ; for, in His name, you pray to God for help to keep 
your garden and your castle as you should, and you get 
that help in answer to your prayers. At the same time, 
you daily feel that you cannot keep them rightly, and 
believing in Christ, you pray for the pardon of all your 
sins, and hope to be saved from deserved punishment and 
wrath, through Him. 

II, We are taught here also that we should both warship 


20 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


God and work for Him. Moses cried untc the Lord, and 
it was good for him to pray, but God told him that there 
was duty as well as devotion to be attended to. He had 
to stretch his rod over the Red Sea, and to lead the 
Israelites across. He had work to do as well as worship 
to engage in, and it must be so with us. 

I have heard of a heathen king who was wounded in 
battle, and who, in his dying hours, sending for his trusted 
servant, said to him, “Go, tell the dead I come.” That 
soldier-servant, without hesitating for a moment, drew his 
sword and stabbed himself to the heart, that he might go 
to the dead before his master, and prepare them for his 
coming. Oh, that we had this spirit of service and of 
sacrifice for the King of kings! In His dying hour, He 
also said to us, “Go, tell the dead I come.” He asks us 
to go to a world dead in trespasses and sins, to tell them 
of His coming, and to preach to them glad tidings of great 
joy. Alas! how many of us are content to worship Him, 
and say, “O King, rule for ever!” without spending and 
being spent, that His kingdom may come, that His will 
may be done on earth, as it is done in heaven. Remember 
this, then: As we must not only believe in Christ, but also 
obey Him; so must we work for God, as well as worship 
Him in spirit and in truth. 

III. This passage further teaches us, that while we enjoy 
religious privileges, we should seek to make yearly and daily 
progress by means of them. 

Like the children of Israel, we have knowledge, and 
benefits, and hopes, which heathens, who are still in 
Egyptian darkness, do not possess. To whom much is 
given, of them the more will be required. Having these 
privileges, therefore, we should make corresponding pro- 
gress. Knowing the way, and the truth, and the life, we 
should go forward, year by year, and day by day. Our 
hearts should become purer in its thoughts and desires. 
Our language should become more truthful and loving, our 
life humbler and holier, our work more directed for God’s 
glory and man’s good. We should become liker to Christ, 
and seek to learn more perfectly the language of heaven. 
In one sense, the work of our salvation is already perfect. 
Christ’s work for us is complete. In another, it is far from 
heing perfected as yet, Christ’s work us is only begun. 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 21 


— if it is, indeed, begun at all,—and God loves to see His 
believing children growing in likeness to that Elder Brother 
who is the very image of Himself. 

If you ask me why you should thus go on towards per- 
fection, I answer, in the first place—J/¢ zs the will of God. 
We are to be perfect as our Father who is in heaven is 
perfect ; and we see, from all that goes on around us and 
within us, that this perfection is not to be reached by a 
single effort, or in a single day. The flowers do not get 
all their beauty at once. Fruit trees show their blossoms 
first, and then produce their fruits, which ripen slowly day 
by day. It is good to see the blossoms and promises of 
youth. It is better to see the fruits of faith. Let piety, 
and love, and patience, and gentleness, and humility, and 
truth, and all the graces of the Spirit, grow and ripen day 
by day. Ministers, and teachers, and parents have been 
sowing the good seed in your hearts, “that ye may be born 
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the 
Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” We 
expect to see the results of our sowing. 

But not only should we go forward in obedience to 
God’s will! We should also feel that it is needful for our 
own sakes to obey our heavenly Father. 

For first, it we refuse to go forward it is ruin to our 
highest interests. If the Israelites had stood still, would 
they have been safe? Pharaoh would have soon come up 
to them, and made them his captives. We may lay a 
flower on the stream, and leave it there untouched. But 
it does not remain where it was; it is floated away. We 
may leave a dead body undisturbed, but it becomes more 
corrupted‘day by day, It does not remain as it was; it 
becomes loathsome and foul. So we are sailing down the 
stream of life, though we think we are not moving at all; 
and our souls are becoming more corrupted year by year, 
if we allow them to remain just as they are, without 
spiritual life, and dead in trespasses and, sin., We cannot, 
therefore, stand still. If we do not go forward, we must 
be going backward. Even if we could always remain 
where we are, sin prevents us from being safe. The fire is 
raging, and is coming nearer and nearer, till it shall destroy 
us. We are lying on the railway track, and the engine of 
death is coming nearer every hour. We haye to go on to 


22 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


Canaan, to be like Christ, and to learn the language of 
heaven. We have to be God’s servants, and every day 
to do our Master’s work and will. It is not enough, there- 
fore, to say that, though we are not learning the heavenly 
language now, we remember what little of it we have 
learned ; that, though we are not serving our master now, 
we are doing nothing against him; that, though we are 
not going forward to Canaan now, we are not going back- 
ward to Egypt. Not to go forward is to disobey God, and 
the wages of our sin is death. 

But, as it is death to disobey ; so, second, /¢ zs fe to go 
forward. The Israelites went forward through the Red 
Sea at God’s command, and it was well with them. On 
the morrow, “they sounded the loud timbrel o’er Egypt's 
dark sea,” proclaiming “ Jehovah has triumphed, his people 
are free ;” and though, in their wilderness-wandering, they 
had not the fleshpots of Egypt, they had special blessings 
from the God of Israel. They had manna from heaven 
to eat, and water from the rock to drink. They had the 
consciousness of God’s presence, the knowledge of His 
gracious character and of His holy law, the protection 
of His mighty arm, and the enjoyment, at last, of His 
heavenly Canaan. And so, it is our life to go forward 
in the way of believing obedience and persistent service. 
The pleasures of sin, indeed, we cannot have. The lusts of 
the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, we dare 
not indulge. But the Christian’s is, after all, the better 
part. “Godliness is profitable unto all things, having pro- 
mise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” 
We have the light of Christian knowledge, the blessings of 
religious faith, the hope of a happy immortality, and the 
blessedness of holy love. Amid all the inconveniences of 
our homeward journey, we can look up to our Father, and 
go forward leaning on our Elder Brother’s arm. Not only 
can we endure, without harm, the trials of life; we can 
feel, in our happy. experience, that, because we love God, 
through faith in Christ, all things work together for our 
good. We are perfected by suffering; and the storms 
which threaten to make shipwreck of our faith, only drive 
us nearer to the haven of eternal rest, where we shall 
be safe in the arms of Jesus, and perfect ag our Father in 
heaven is perfect, ; 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. ; 23 


Before I conclude, let me give you this one counsel : Do 
not, as pilgrims of immortality, think lightly of ttle steps. 
_ These Israelites had to go all their long journey to Canaan 
one step at a time, and so it is with you. And, alas! you 
may go a far way from the path of duty, and the path of 
safety, though you only take one step at a time. We see 
a lovely flower, and it seems but a little step away from 
the pathway, and we go to pluck it, and other flowers 
tempt us, and we go away, step by step, after them also, 
into the fields of sin; but the end of these things is death. 
How often do we read of youths, inclined to goodness, who 
thus take one step in evil after another, until they become 
monsters of iniquity. I have read of the wicked and cruel 
Emperor Nero, that in his youth he burst into tears when 
asked to sign the order for a criminal to die. Yet it was 
he who, going step by step into and through the fields of 
sin, and vice, and crime, laughed like a fiend to see the 
burning of the city, to which, it was said, he himself set 
fire. He murdered, without feeling any stingings of con- 
science, his nearest relatives ; he wrapped Christians round 
with sheets of canvas steeped in oil and covered with pitch, 
and then lighted them as torches for his garden-grounds 
and palace-halls. And, as bad persons become wicked 
step by step, so it needs many little steps to go forward to 
the love and likeness of Christ. Even Paul had to forget 
the things behind, and press on to the things before. The 
youngest of us may make some progress in the Divine life, 
and the oldest and the best of us have great progress still 
to make. 

It was told of a painter, that he had “no day without its 
line.” Every day he added some touches to his picture. 
So let it be with ours. Thus we shall make it liker and 
liker to Christ, the perfect Image of the invisible God. 

W. H. G. 


VI. What is it to be to me? Josu. ili. 4. “ Ye 
have not passed this way heretofore.” 


LIFT up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the fair 
stars that are shining there. Can you count them? Na 
But God has counted them, and given all of them names 


24 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


of his own, far better than ours. How great must that God 
be who counts the stars, and gives them all their names. 
They are very beautiful, especially in the winter nights ; 
and tell us what a great, wise, good, and holy God it was 
who made them. “The heavens declare the glory of 
God.” These stars toil not, and spin not; yet “ Solomon 
in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” 

A learned man, who thought himself very wise, once 
wished to puzzle a poor man whom he met going to 
church, 

“Where are you going ?” he said. 

“To church,” said the poor man. 

“What are you going to do there?” 

“To worship God.” 

“Ts your God a great God, or a little God ?” 

“ He is both.” ; 

“ How can that be?” 

“He is so great as to fill the heavens, and yet so little 
that He can dwell in my heart.” 

These heavens above us are not dumb. These stars of 
God have a voice that never ceases to speak to us; and 
often when I have looked up to them at the close of one 
year or the beginning of another, they have seemed to 
“utter speech” more loudly, and to sound through the 
silent heavens of midnight the name of the great God who 
made them, and kept them shining so brightly above this 
little Earth of ours. Every ray that comes from them says, 
not merely “God is great,” but “God is love ;” for He who 
created them was none other than the Son of God, as it is 
written, “ All things were made by Him, and without Him 
was not any thing made that was made” (John i. 3); and 
it was He who gave His life for us. 

As Earth is only as a grain of sand in the midst of these 
innumerable stars, so is that little bit of time that we call 
life, in the midst of the awful Eternity which surrounds us. 
What is an atom of dust in comparison of the great moun- 
tains? and what is a year of our life here in comparison 
with the ages that are to roll on for ever? 

Yet that little life of ours—even the life of the poorest 
and the youngest—is precious beyond all precious things, 
and important beyond all the important things of the great- 
est cities or kingdoms here; and that which makes it s¢ 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 25 


precious and so important is this, that it must either be full 
pf joy, or full of sorrow, for ever and for ever. 

Another bit of this ttle but great life of our closes on 
the thirty-first of December; and another bit of it opens 
on the first of January. On that closing and that opening 
scene, these clear stars are looking down; nay more, on 
that closing and opening scene angels, brighter than these 
stars, are looking down, though we see them not. For “he 
gives His angels charge concerning us,” and they never for- 
get their charge. They are watching this closing year, to 
see what it has done for us ; and they are earnestly looking 
into the coming year to see what it is to bring forth, They 
do not weep; but if they could, oh, how they would weep 
over the wasted days of the year that has passed away ! 
Yet, though they do not weep, they can rejoice ; and, oh, 
how they would rejoice even over one life made happy, one 
soul saved ! 

The gate of the new year has now opened upon us, 
and we must all go in, whether we will or not. But the 
question is, What is that going in to be to us? with whom 
are we to goin? and whois to walk with us through its 
months and days? 

The new year will do nothing for us unless we enter on 
it in the company of the Son of God. Without this, there 
can be no “ 4appy new year.” At the very entrance of it, 
Jesus meets us in His love, and, taking hold of our hand, 
says to each of us, “Wilt thou go with me?” His com- 
pany would make life happy; his love would sweeten every 
change, and brighten every hour. 

EB. 


VII. Gideon. Junces vii. 5-7. “So he brought down the 
people unto the water: and the Lord said unto Gideon, Every 
one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, 
him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth 
down upon his knees to drink. And the number of them that 
lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred 
men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their 
knees to drink water, And the Lord said unto Gideon, By the 
three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the 


26 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go 
every man unto his place.” 


THAT is a strange story. Gideon wasa great leader of the 
army of Israel ; and the enemies of Israel had gathered to- 
gether so that when Gideon and his army were on the 
mountain tops the hosts of the enemy, we are told, were 
like grasshoppers. Israel had to fight against this great 
army, and she gathered together about thirty-two thousand 
men for the purpose. Now I shall explain first, how 
Gideon was chosen to be a general over this army, and 
how this army of thirty-two thousand men was gradually 
reduced to three hundred, and how these three hundred 
went and fought and defeated the enemy. 

First, the Israelites, who had been worshippers of the one 
true God, as often happens, when they became happy and 
prosperous, fell into evil ways, forsook God, and worshipped 
idols. Now Gideon was living in the house of his parents, 
and they worshipped idols, and Gideon and all his people 
were brought up to worship false gods. We read that 
Gideon built an altar to the Lord, and when he rose up 
early in the morning the altar of Baal was cast down, be- 
cause he feared God ; and he also feared his father’s house, 
and he did it by night and not by day. Gideon, you see, 
was afraid to do it in the day—he was not a very brave 
man—still he was a true man. And thus God gave him 
a very glorious part to play. He was given a curious 
proof to show he was chosen to lead the army of 
Israel. There was a fleece of wool put one night in the 
open, and lo! in the morning this was covered with dew, 
although all around was dry; and the next night it was 
the opposite; the fleece was dry though all around was 
wet. That tells us why God chose Gideon. He was unlike 
the rest. Gideon was wet with the dew of God's blessing 
when all around was dry. He was the exceptional man. 

I have found this in the home. One boy or one girl 
living a better life, striving quite timidly or frightened, 
like Gideon, to live an unselfish, holy life, the dew of 
God’s blessing resting upon them. So Gideon, because 
he would serve the true God, and was unlike the rest, was 
chosen. 

How were these three hundred men chosen? First, twenty: 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 27 


two thousand fell off because they were not brave enough 
to go to the battle. All who fight must be determined to 
fight till the last. The three hundred were chosen in the 
way I have read. The army came to a stream of water. 
“Here,” said God, “I will try who are the truemen. A 
great Many were weary and hot, and they lay down. 
There was the water running down, so cool and refreshing 
after the weary march. There were three hundred men who 
did not lie down, but said, “ We will have no rest until we 
defeat the enemy.” And so they lapped the water like a 
dog. They did not lie down; they simply caught a hand- 
ful of water and went on to the battle. Now you see why 
God chose these men; they had something to do in God’s 
name and they would do that thing before anything else. 
They were men of one great object for the sake of God. 
You know, boys and girls, when you see people get on in 
the world you often say, “I should like to be successful like 
that one.” You do not see all the toil and devotion which 
they have had todo. You see, afterwards people envied 
these three hundred men. But Gideon took them with him 
to the battle because they were men of a single eye, and 
that eye was fixed upon duty. 

What is the lesson of all this for us? It is, if we do not 
do well, if we do not seek to do God’s will in, the small 
things of life, God will not give us the opportunity to do 
them in the great things. In your home, you say, “ When 
I am grown up and married, and at the head of the house, 
then I will try to set a good example.” You will do 
very much when you are grown up what you do now. 
The little boy or girl who is selfish and makes the home 
unhappy will do the same when they are grown up. The 
selfishness will not leave you, believe me, when you become 
aman or woman. You think childhood is a gay and 
happy time. It is, and God desires and loves you to be 
happy. How many things indeed He has given you so 
that you may be happy. But oh, God gives you child- 
hood to prepare you for manhood and womanhood, and if 
it is thrown away and wasted you will never recover it. 
There is no limit to God’s mercy, but you can never make 
up for a wasted, selfish, and sinful childhood. 

Remember, that as the men were chosen for the battle, 
so the leader was chosen himself, because he was a man 


28 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


of some courage in his own home. Home, I may tell 
you, is the very hardest place in which to show ourselves 
true and faithful servants of Jesus Christ. Pray God to 
give you the courage to be true to Him, and then you 
will be like Gideon, brave in the battle afterwards. Try 
and live like these three hundred men. There will be all 
kinds of streams of pleasure to lead you astray; but re- 
member your purpose in life is to serve God for the sake 
of Jesus Christ, to fight all the enemies of the soul, and to 
permit none of these things to lead you away from God. 
Touch them lightly as these men took the water in their 
hands. Enjoy them as God has given them. Oh, never 
lie down by any stream of human pleasure as if it were 
your resting place. 

Try to begin early to live as soldiers of the cross, try to 
learn early to be brave as He who died on the cross for 
you, try and learn in early life those lessons of obedience, 
self-sacrifice, and love, which will make you good servants 
and soldiers of Jesus Christ in the great battle of life here- 
after. 

Perhaps, God may not give you anything great in this 
life; but you do not know what God has for you here- 
after. Do not think when you pass away from this life 
that you pass quite away from activity. God has work 
enough for his saints to do. Oh, early childhood! I 
beseech you, cherish it as the time during which God is 
fitting you by all the experiences of life for the more 
solemn duties which He will give you soon, and for the 
more glorious duties of the life which is to come. 

gi oy eS 


VIII. A Ministering Child. 1: Sam. ii. 18. “ Samuel 
ministered before the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen 
ephod. ” 


HERE you see the child Samuel busy in his early years with 
that which was to be work of his life. The scene to which 
you are taken is a place called Shiloh, situated among the 
hills of Ephraim, not far from the spot where Jacob, when 
flying from his father’s house, dreamed of the ladder whose 
top reached to heaven, on which the angels of God ascended 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 29 


and descended, and above which stood the Lord God of 
Abraham and Isaac. There was the tent which served as 
the house of God. There lived the old priest Eli, whose 
two sons, by their bad conduct, made men abhor the offer- 
ing of the Lord. There, too, was the Samuel of whom it 
is said that “he ministered before the Lord, being a child, 
girded with a linen ephod.” 

Ln this verse, there 7s the picture of a life surrendered. 

In this verse, therets a service which ts the sign of a life 
curvendered. 

In this verse, there ts a separation which is the sign of this 
6ervzce. 

I. There is first the picture of a life surrendered. 

It was surrendered to God by a pious mother, given by 
ner as a life for a life. She had asked a life from God ; 
when the child was born, she called him “the asked one,” 
Samuel. And because the Lord had given her her petition, 
she lent or returned him to the Lord. In the hour of her 
glaaness, when the sweet cares of motherhood were opening 
upon ner, she solemnly dedicated her firstborn to the Father 
ot tatuers, And so the child grew up, knowing that the 
fixed pom of his existence was that, whether he lived or 
whether he died, he was the Lord’s. I hope that your 
parents, my dear young friends, have done as Hannah did ; 
that froin the earliest moment of your history, they gave 
you, in willing voasent, in earnest prayer, in true act of 
devotion, to God your Father, Saviour, and Sanctifier. We, 
who are Christian f.atiers and mothers, should settle it in 
our hearts that our chilUren are to grow up in the know- 
ledge that they are not their own, but God’s, 

Happy, happy they whose first years have been infolded 
in parental piety, who begin their course in this world with 
a religious atmosphere about thum, taught, as the beginning 
of all instruction and all discipline, that they are partakers 
with those whose name they bear, of the one blessed nurture, 
the nurture of the Lord, heirs with them of the one blessed 
grace, the grace of the eternal life. Thenk God if you are 
the children of many prayers. “Whocares Sor mother?” said 
a boy one day to his sister, who told him tla: mother wished 
him to leave his play on the sand and come Some. “ My 
boy,” said a gentleman who overheard the ren.ark, “don’t 
speak thus. I despised my mother, and took my awn way, 


30 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


and broke her heart. But, after her death, oh, what would 
I have done to be able to call her back! I was miserable 
until I remembered how she taught me to pray ; and I cast 
myself on her God, and He has heard me. Oh, how much 
I owe to my mother and her prayers!” The boy’s eye 
kindled, and his voice trembled, as he said, “I will never 
speak lightly of my mother again.” 

It is a very touching picture this picture of Samuel and his 
mother. Do you not think that she would have liked her 
darling child beside her? that she must have shed some hot 
tears when she left the little fellow behind her at Shiloh, and 
went back to the distant home, and saw the little cot he was 
never more to sleep in? But she will not recall her gift. 
She lent him to the Lord. That life at Shiloh is his, not 
hers. Ah! when fathers and mothers grudge their children 
for some work of God, refuse to part with them that they 
may go forth and be Christ’s ministers, let them reflect on 
Hannah and Elkanah, without a murmur, nay, with holy 
joy, yielding up their dearest to the ministry of God. Some 
of you may have read the life of good Bishop Patteson. Do 
you remember how beautifully the old judge, Patteson’s 
father, folded his son in his arms, kissed him, and bade him 
go and preach Christ’s gospel to the heathen, although he 
felt sure that he would never see him again? 

Well, the life surrendered by the mother is, by his own 
free will, surrendered by the sonalso. There is no gap, it 
would seem, between the parents and the self-dedication. 
Sometimes, alas! there is. Sometimes mother’s and father’s 
eyes are sealed in death before the one whom they gave 
really gives himself to God. The child Samuel was 
always holy to the Lord. No break in his history. The 
Divine life filled him, and set its seal on him from early 
youth. 

And yet there was an awakening hour—an hour in which 
he understood, as he had never done before, who was dealing 
with him, and what his life-work was to be; an hour in 
which there came a new earnestness into his character, a 
new sense of his calling as the servant and prophet of God. 
That hour is beautifully set before you in the third chapter. 
It was the Lord’s call to Samuel, the revelation to him of 
the Word, which he had not yet known. What I feel is 
this: a child, in early childhood receives of the life that is 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 31 


— 


around, the life of the home, or the influences immediately 
surrounding ; and when that life or these influences are good, 
inspired by the Holy Spirit of God, there is often, although 
not always, a gradual unfolding of the beauties of holiness. 
But there is needed a moment in which the soul hears God 
calling to itself, and in which His Word—the Word which 
it may have been taught—is revealed, is lighted up with 
meaning, comes home with force ; and the soul sees what 
before it heard and partly felt, and consciously answers 
God’s call. That is the great moment in the history. 

Then the picture of our verse is truly fulfilled,—the life 
is surrendered in sweet trust and willing obedience to the 
Lord. 

II. But now observe the sign of this surrendered life— 
Service. “Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a 
child.” He waited on the old priest, ready to go on his 
errands and attend to him in any way he wished. Perhaps 
he had some care of the lamps in the temple. 

“ Being a child.” Sometimes God lays a heavy charge 
on even children ; “being a child” is zo¢ something which 
stands in the way of service. You must not say, “Oh, I am 
only achild; I have nothing to do for God.” There is the 
ministry of children as well as of grown-up people. In 
God’s temple there is room for the young no less than for 
the old. Both the little Samuel and the old priest Eli are 
there. 

The great word for all service is, “ Before the Lord.” 
When we live our life every day before the Lord, we are 
always ministering to him. The most ordinary thing done 
in his sight is a sacred thing. If you have the feeling of 
God in your heart, and the fear of God before your eyes, 
you are ministering when you are at school repeating your 
lessons, when you are at home learning them, when you are 
in the house and by the way. That which consecrates all 
is the direction of the mind. Look up; look to Jesus; 
carry the thought of Him with you wherever you go; ask 
His blessing on whatever you do; go only where and do 
only what you can feel sure He is pleased with and will bless, 
and you are dwelling in God’s temple as truly as Samuel 
was, and ministering as truly as he did. Here is a grand 
text,—“I will walk before the Lord in the land of the 
living.” 


32 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


The secret of ministry is being ready, asking constantly 
“What wilt Thou have me to do.” Samuel was taught the 
servant's answer, “ Speak, Lord, Thy servant heareth.” That 
is the way for us, to wait and be willing to be anything to 
do anything that God commands us. 

III. The dress he wears is a sign of his consecration. 

Now the ephod has disappeared, belonging as it did to 
the old priesthood of Israel, but the truth signified by it 
will never disappear—that God’s servants must come out 
and be separate from the world. / 
IML 


IX. Samuel. 1Sam.iii.7. “ Wow Samuel did not yet know 
the Lord.” 


WHEN you see a very old man, with white hair and 
wrinkled face and tottering steps, it is difficult to conceive 
that he was ever a child. And when you hear an old man 
of God pray—perhaps it may be your grandfather in your 
home, or the minister in the pulpit, or some one at the 
prayer-meeting—it is difficult to think that there was ever 
a time when he was not a true believer. I have no doubt 
the children of Ramah, where Samuel used to live, felt the 
same difficulty. When they saw the grand old man, who 
had been the judge and the king-maker, moving about the 
streets, they looked after him with awe; how could they 
think he had ever been a boy like themselves? When 
they heard him at a sacrifice praying in his solemn tones, 
or in a meeting of the people, addressing them as a prophet 
in the very words of God, how could they think of a time 
when he did not know the Lord ? 

Yet there was such a time. He was a child once just 
like you, and he did not know the Lord. But one night 
God came and revealed Himself to him; and from that 
time forth Samuel did know the Lord. 

Three things are noticeable about Samuel at the time 
when he did not yet know the Lord :— 

I. Though he did not know the Lord, he knew about Him. 

He could not help learning a great deal about God, for 
he had a good father ; and his mother was one of the best 
women that have ever lived. She prayed a great deal for 
him ; and when he was born, she composed a beautiful 


a 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 33 


hymn of thanks to God. They both wished their boy to 
grow up and be a godly man; they prized that far above 
wealth or station. They wished him to be a priest, and so 
they brought him to old Eli, and left him with him. He 
lived in the very house of God, and was a child-priest, 
in his little white linen ephod lighting and trimming the 
sacred lamps, and opening the doors of the tabernacle at 
daybreak. When his mother came year by year to see 
him, bringing his little coat, she must have spoken about 
God to him. And old Eli, who loved him as if he had 
been his own child, and made him his companion, must 
often have spoken to him on the same subject. He 
breathed an atmosphere full of religion; he saw the sacri- 
fices offered and the incense rising every day; and the 
friends about him were all talking to him of God. If there 
was one child in all the country who knew far more about 
God than all the rest, it must have been he. Still, “he 
did not yet know the Lord.” 

Now, your lot may be very like his. Your father and 
mother are godly persons. You know they pray earnestly 
for you every day. They wish above everything else that 
you should turn out to be a genuine Christian. 

Yet, for all that, perhaps you are like Samuel—you do 
not yet know the Lord. 

It is one thing to know about a person, and another to 
know him. Some of you are learning languages, and may 
be aware that in most languages these two kinds of know- 
ledge are distinguished by two different words,—in Latin, 
by cognoscere and novisse; in German, by wissen and 
kennen ; in French, by savozy and connaitre. The one of 
these words is used for knowing about a person or a thing, 
the other for knowing a person. 

But you are all aware of this difference. You know, for 
instance, about the Queen. Perhaps you could tell her 
age, and when she came to the throne, what have been the 
chief events of her reign, and what are the names of her 
children. You have heard that she is good and noble; 
and you may admire and love her. But you only know 
about her. Your knowledge of her is not in the least like 
your knowledge of your own mother. It is a cold and 
distant kind of knowledge compared with this You da 
not only know about your mother; you know her; you 


34 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


are acquainted with her. It is because you live in the 
same house with her; because she speaks to you every 
day ; you speak to her and confide in her; she belongs to 
you and you belong to her. It is a close and warm know- 
edge. It sets your heart on fire. She clasps you close, 
and says, This is my child. You clasp her close, and say, 
This is my mother. 

Now, that is just the difference between knowing about 
God and knowing Him. Merely to know about Him is a 
cold and far-off thing. You may know about Him, and 
yet never think of Him except when you are being spoken 
to about Him, and you may not love Him in the least. 
But to know Him is to be acquainted with Him. It is to 
realize Him with you always,—in the daylight and in the 
dark ; when you are working and playing, and lying awake. 
It is to speak to Him every day, and confide to Him all 
your secrets, as you do to your mother. It is to love Him, 
and to be able to say, He is my God—not only, He is 
God; but, He is my God. 

Now, my children, do you know the Lord, or do you 
only know about Him? When Christ’s name is mentioned, 
does it fall unheeded on your ears, or does it make you 
thrill with joy and love? When you think of Him, is 
it as one who lived long ago in Palestine, and is now 
far away up in heaven; or is it as one you spoke to this 
morning, and will speak to again to-night, and who is 
near you every hour? Is He your companion and your 
friend ? 

II. As long as he did not know the Lord he was exposed 
to great dangers. 

Although he did not know the Lord, Samuel must have 
been in every way a child to love. We naturally think of 
him as a beautiful and noble-looking boy. Dressed in his 
pure white ephod, and the coat adorned by the loving 
fingers of his mother, he was fit to move about among the 
sacred objects of the tabernacle. His heart was still tender, 
and his mind unspotted by the world; he was sheltered in 
the holy place from temptation, and had not seen the vile 
deeds or heard the vile words of bad men. Still, any one, 
however good and sheltered from temptation, who does 
not know the Lord, is in danger. There is no safety for 
us till Christ has become our Friend and Saviour. 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 35 


— 


There was one danger close at hand. Eli's sons were 
very wicked and tempted those unto sin who came to wor- 
ship. What if Hophni and Phinehas had cast their eyes 
on Samuel, and being angry to see his soul so white, had 
laid their black polluted hands on it and made it like their 
own? Sinners always wish to make others like them- 
selves, and it is a delight to them to corrupt young souls. 

Samuel was exposed to another danger. His heart 
would soon have grown hard. It was soft when God came 
to him; and that was why, as soon as Eli informed him 
who was calling, he answered God so heartily. 

If you do not know God, you must be becoming a 
greater sinner every year. That hardens the heart against 
God. It will make you afraid of coming near Him. 

There was another danger for Samuel as long as he did 
not know God. God intended him to become a very great 
man and do a great work in the world. He had gifted 
him with talents for this, but Samuel’s life would have been 
lost if he had not learned to know the Lord. 

Perhaps God intends some of you children to be great. 
It may be; but this is certain, that God intends you all to 
become true and noble men and women, to do good in 
your day in whatever sphere you may be placed. 

Now you cannot do so unless you know God. When 
winter walks forth over the earth his breath brings death 
everywhere and his icy hand is laid with a deadly chill on 
the face of the old man in his bed and the baby in its 
cradle. But when summer goes forth over the world, joy 
and life spring all around her; where her footsteps fall 
the flowers spring up, her fingers touch the trees and 
they smile with blossom and verdure; all the birds on 
the boughs sing their finest songs to welcome her, and the 
sivers dance in the bright sunlight with gladness, Will 
your march through life be like winter’s, chilling and kill- 
ing ; or like summer's, blessing all about you and gladden- 
ing their hearts? It depends on whether you know the 
Lord or not. All the good Samuel did in the world dated 
from the night when he learned to know Him. 

Ill. Because he didnot know the Lord, he did not recognise 
God calling him. 

The boy-priest used to lie in the tabernacle all night. 
He slept alone. Many a one would have been afraid to 


36 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


ee 


sleep in that awful place, but Samuel slept soundly und 
had no fear. 

But one night, when the darkness lay upon ai) the earth 
outside, when everything in the tabernacle was as still as 
death, and Samuel lay in the deep sleep of boyhood, a 
strange loud voice broke the silence in the chamber, and 
he started up with his own name ringing in his ears— 
Samuel, Samuel. It was God’s voice; but he did not 
recognise it, because he did not yet know the Lord. 

My children, you wil never hear a voice like that from 
heaven breaking tle silence of the night in your bedroom. 
But God calis tp you just as really as he did to Samuel, 
though, like him, you may not have recognised the voice. 

He calls to children in many ways. You notice some- 
times the anxiety of your parents or your teachers about 
your soul. They speak to you; you know they pray for 
you; you have been surprised at the strange, yearning 
look of love in your mother’s eyes sometimes, or the pain 
shooting over her face when you committed a sin. Who 
do you think put that love and anxiety there for you? It 
was God. He put it there because He loves you far more 
than either father or mother. It is Christ who pleads with 
you through ‘human lips. But perhaps you never recog- 
nised that ; you thought it was only man’s call. 

Perhaps death has entered the families of some of you, 
removing those you loved. That was God calling; but 
perhaps you did not recognise Him. 

God is calling you. Will you not do as Samuel did? 
He went back alone to his room, With what awe he must 
have entered it! How different it was from what it had 
ever been before! It was full of God. Often he had 
prayed there before, but God had been far away. Now He 
. was beside him. Will you do that in your bedroom 
to-night? You have prayed there often before, but God 
was far away. But when it is dark, will you try to realize 
that Christ is just beside you? Will you speak to Him 
soft and low, telling Him you wish Him to be your Saviour, 
to be your friend and companion for life; that you wish 
Him to take your sins away, and to keep your soul safe till 
it is in heaven with Himself? Samuel’s true life began 
that night ; perhaps yours will begin to-night. : 

os 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 3? 

X. The Ark of God. 1 Sam.iv. 10, 11. “ And the Philis- 
tines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man 
into his tent; and there was a very great slaughter; for there 
Sell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. And the ark of God 
was taken.” 


THIS, you see, is an account of a battle which took place 
many many years ago between the armies of Israel and 
the forces of the Philistines. And the Israelites were 
beaten, and the ark of God was taken. This last fact is 
mentioned as the most terrible thing that could have 
occurred. You know that if the French or German or 
English soldiers were beaten they would tell you with 
shame that so many standards were taken. The ark was 
to the Israelites what the cross of our Redeemer is to us. 
It was a representation to them of their country and of 
their religion; and so when the account is written here 
of how the armies of the Israelites were beaten, it is all 
summed up in these words—“ The ark of God was taken.” 

I want first of all to speak to you about the ark itself. 
You must not confuse it with the ark which Noah built ; 
the ark here referred to was quite another thing. First, 
let me tell you what it looked like. It was a box or chest 
made of acacia wood—a wood we read of in the Bible—it 
was the wood of the acacia tree. The box was some six 
feet long and three feet wide. This ark or chest, for the 
word in the Hebrew means chest, was covered with inlaid 
gold, and on either end of it were the cherubim. These 
were two figures, one at each end, each figure being called 
a cherub. Cherubim, I may explain, is the plural of 
cherub. These cherubim were also made of gold. There 
were four rings, one at each corner of this chest or ark, and 
through these were poles, and the men whose duty it was 
to carry the ark carried it through these poles resting upon 
their shoulders. These were the Levites, who were especi- 
ally privileged in this respect. 

This ark was placed withinthe Tabernacle. This simply 
meant a tent. In those days, when people were moving 
about like the Arabs, they did not live in houses but in 
tents. Just as you see in the English army rows of tents 
and a big tent in the centre with the colours of the army 
standing in the corner ; so with the ark of God, 


38 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


This ark was covered with a curtain. So sacred was the 
ark that though they took it out of the tent to carry before 
them, it was covered with richly embroidered cloth so that 
no one could see it. The ark was for the Israelites a type 
and an emblem of God. We know that God is with us, 
but we cannot see Him, and so the ark was to them a type 
of God’s presence. In the ark were three things ; first, the 
tables on which Moses wrote the law of God, to remind the 
people always that they were to keep God’s laws ; secondly, 
a little pot of manna with which they were fed in the wil- 
derness ; thirdly, there was in it Aaron’s rod which budded. 
You remember that when the people rebelled against 
Aaron, his rod blossomed forth. This was to remind the 
people that they were to obey God. 

So you see that the ark was a sacred thing to the people 
of Israel. When they came to the River of Jordan, and 
they distrusted God, the ark went before them and the 
waters were divided and they passed safely over, and when 
they came to a fortified city the ark was carried around 
that city, and after a while the walls of the city fell. Iv 
was the ark that reminded them of God’s tenderness to 
men, and so it was a terrible thing to them when it was 
captured by the Philistines. 

What was the object of the Philistines? They thought, 
if we can get this ark we shall get the victory over our 
enemies, as by its aid the Israelites have won their battles. 

The lesson I wish to set before you is, that though 
a thing may be very good for some it may be very 
bad for others. This ark helped the Israelites and pre- 
served them; but when the Philistines got it into their 
possession it was no good to them, and in the end it got 
to be such a curse to the Philistines that they very soon 
got rid of it. This was because God had not given it to 
them, for they had stolen it from the Israelites. It all 
turns on that. Are you born rich, of high station, with 
many friends; or are you born poor, of low estate, and 
almost as it were alone in the world? It is good whether 
you are rich or poor, because God has so ordered it. 
Remember, the ark became a great curse to those who 
had no right to it. Where God has placed you, whether 
rich or poor, you are not to be discontented with it. I 
hear some say: “If I was like so and so I could be of 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 39 


such use!’”’ My little friend, if you do not use the place 
and opportunity that God has given you, and do not use 
the blessing which God has bestowed upon you, depend 
upon it, it does not matter in what rank of life you are, 
or how rich you are, you are not acting right. God gives 
wealth and rank, which is much, and He gives poverty. 
That and nothing else is good for you—what God has 
given you. 

A great and distinguished man gave a little girl a plant 
which he had brought from a northern climate, and she 
was told by this man—he was a great traveller—to put 
this plant into a particular part of the garden, where the 
cold wind beat upon it. And the little girl looked upon 
this plant day after day, and it seemed to her that it was 
withering up. She went into the conservatory in the heat 
and there she saw the grand plants blossoming even in the 
midst of the heat. She hesitated a moment, then went 
and dug up her little plant and placed it in a pot in the 
conservatory, and thought that in that warm place her 
plant would become as glorious as any in that conserva- 
tory. The next morning she went to look at it and it was 
dead. The heat had killed it. What made the others 
blossom, according to God’s law of nature, had killed the 
plant which only blossomed in the cold. 

And so it is, boys and girls, in your life. If God has 
put you in a place, preserved by those who love you from 
all cold blasts, be satisfied; but if He ever places you in 
His mercy and love where the storm of trial and tempta- 
tion will beat upon you, it is only there you will blossom. 
The ark which blest the Israelites to whom God had given 
it, cursed the Philistines who stole it. Pores: 


XI. “Sendand fetch him.” 1 Sam. xvi. 11. ‘And 
Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him.” 


MANY years ago, there was a farmhouse in the quiet vil- 
lage of Bethlehem, in which lived a man called Jesse. He 
had a large family, and some of his sons were very fine- 
looking men indeed. One day the quiet of the place was 
disturbed by the report that the prophet Samuel had come. 


40 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


The people did not know what to make of his visit; but 
though he did not tell them his errand, he managed to 
make them feel easy. Very soon there was some stir in 
the old farmhouse. ‘‘I want tosee yoursons.” ‘*Ve 
well,” said Jesse; for fathers like to show their children, 
and especially when they are as handsome as many of his 
sons were. No one of them knew that Samuel was look- 
ing for the future king; but when the tall and manly 
figure of Eliab came, the prophet thought, ‘‘ This must be 
the man. He is fit to be a successor to Saul.” But God 
said, ‘‘ No.” The fact is, God does not go by outward 
appearance. He looks lower down. There are some of 
you very fine-looking fellows; but, ‘‘ Handsome ts that 
handsome does.’’ You may be big and strong, and only 
use your strength to bully other boys smaller than your- 
self. You may bea very pretty girl, and yet your beauty 
may only be a mask, and your real nature be ugliness 
itself. Remember, ‘‘ Zhe Lord looketh on the heart.’ What 
does He seeinyour heart ? Does He seea great tall body, 
hiding a little cowardly heart? Does He see, behind a 
lovely face, a vain and deceitful heart? If so, you will 
not do. You are not yet fit to be one of God's kings 
or queens. But you may have the heart changed. You 
may have a beautiful mind given to you, and then it will 
not matter so much whether you are good-looking or not. 

When the old farmer had sent in his sons one after 
another, and God had refused them all, Samuel asked, 
‘Are here all thy children?” He was told that he had 
seen them all except the youngest, and that he was in the 
fields taking careof thesheep. ‘‘ Ah well,” said he, ‘‘ let 
me look at him. ‘Send and fetch him.’” Send for 
whom? 

I. A boy neglected. It is plain to be seen that David’s 
brothers, if not his father, did not care for him as much 
as he deserved. Perhaps, like another younger brother, 
he had dreams of a bright future. A lad with such mettle 
in him as David had, must have felt at times that he 
would like to be a soldier, or in some place with more 
life and stir than Bethlehem. But his brothers seem to 
have sneered at him; and when Jesse sent for his sons, 
instead of Eliab saying to one of the servants, ‘‘ Here, 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 41 


take care of these sheep till David comes back,” he left 
the boy in the field, just as he did afterwards when he 
went to war. Though his big body had a heart too small 
to go and fight the giant, he could sneer at David when 
he felt that Ze should like to have a try at ridding his 
country of such a plague. 

Well, and supposing there is some little fellow who is 
quite overshadowed by his big brothers, or some little girl 
who is quite forgotten when her elder sisters are playing 
on the piano before the visitors, don’t let it spoil you, and 
make you sulky. David did not grow peevish because no 
one noticed him. He looked cheerful when he came before 
Samuel. So you must remember that neglect will not 
make you any worse, for sooner or later your turn will 
come. When acollection is made in a church, supposing 
a gentleman should put half a sovereign in the box, and 
then threepenny pieces, and sixpences, and pennies are put 
on the top of it, and hide it, so that no one can see it; by- 
and-by the box will be taken into the vestry, and over- 
turned upon the table; and some one is sure to see it and 
say, “Here’s a bit of gold,” and he will put it by itself. 
And if you are gold, it does not matter how the big penny 
pieces try to hide you; sooner or later you will be seen, 
and made a great deal of. 

“Send and fetch him.” Whom? 

Il. A boy minding his work. Yes, he was a picture of 
Jesus, the Good Shepherd. He stuck to his work, and it 
was from his lowly duty he was sent for to be anointed 
King of Israel. It was dangerous work. The other day 
I saw a beautiful picture of the shepherd lad standing 
on a dead lion. There was the king of beasts dead on 
the plain, and a pool of blood under him; and the brave 
lad was standing on him, as he afterwards stood on 
Goliath. And all round him the sheep and goats were 
bleating, and saying in their language, “Oh what a brave 
shepherd we have!” If David had run away from 
either the lion or the bear, and left the sheep to be killed 
by the wild beasts, God would not have chosen him to be 
a king. Boys! stick to your work! Never mind how 
difficult it is. Conquering here, you shall fit yourself 
for other duties. Be brave, and never flinch from your 
tasks. 


42 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


It was, when not dangerous, very tedious work. For a 
lad so active as David was, the work would be very dull; 
but it was his duty, so he kept at it. He made the time 
pass quickly by improving himself in the knowledge of 
music, and became a very skilful player on the harp. 
Some of you would have gone to sleep; but David wanted 
to make a man of himself, and so kept practising on the 
harp, until it was difficult to say whether he was a better 
shepherd or musician. After a while, King Saul became 
very unhappy and low-spirited, and some of his friends 
advised him to have some one who could cheer him by 
music; and then David was called for. One of the king’s 
nobles said, “I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, 
that is cunning in playing.” So one day the old farmer 
found some men who had come with a message from the 
palace: “The king said, ‘ Sexd me David thy son, which ts 
with the sheep.” You see they did not think David not 
fit to come to the palace because he had been taking care 
of the sheep. It was well known how he had spent his 
time. He who can kill lions or bears when they come, 
and fill up his time playing on a harp in the style David 
did, need not fear that he will suffer in the estimation of 
the great because he has to mind sheep; for it is true now, 
as it was in the time of David’s wise son, King Solomon— 
“Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall 
stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean 
men.” 

“Send and fetch him.” Whom ? 

III. A boy who feared God. It is very plain to be seen 
that David was a good lad. It is most likely that while 
he was keeping sheep he made some of the beautiful 
psalms, such as the eighth and nineteenth. It will be 
worth your while to go through the psalms and pick out 
those you think likely to have been made while he was a 
shepherd lad. 

Perhaps some lad here is saying, “Ah! I am sorry that 
I am not brave. I am sure that I should have run away 
from the lion, and let him eat the kid, and its mother as 
well.” You don’t know that. If you had been called to it, 
maybe you would have had courage to fight as David did. 
In rambling about the world as I have done, by sea and 
land, I have found that some of the timid and nervous 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 43 


people have, in danger, done better than some of t*2 loud 
blustering ones. 

Is there some one who would like to have the chance 
to do something brave? Well, I want you to turn back 
a lion! “What’s that?” you say; “turn back a lion!” 
Yes. The next time you are tempted to sin—to tell a lie, 
or to disobey your mother—you may turn back a lion, 
for that is what Satan is like—“ As a roaring lon, walketh 
about, seeking whom he may devour.” “ Resist the devil, and 
he will fiee.” 

Oh! my young friends, be good. Love that Saviour 
who died in your place. Do as God tells you to do; and 
then, though you may have to live in Bethlehem all your 
life, and never be known outside of your own quiet street, 
yet God will know all about you, and the day of your 
coronation will come. Then shall the King greatly desire 
you, and shall say to his angels,— 


“ Send and fetch him.” 


Let us then do our duty, and thus prepare for future 
honours. 
g te os 


XII. Parting Alike. 1 Sam. xxx 24. “As his part is 
that goeth down to battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth 
by the stuff: they shall part alike.” 


THIS is a law that was made by David, and was kept till 
the time this book was written, and it was ordained that 
the one that went to the battle and the one who tarried 
by the stuff were to part alike. What does “part alike” 
mean? It means there was to be a division of what 
was captured in war, parted alike—divided equally. Now 
the way it came about was this; David was going down 
to a battle, and he took 600 men with him, and 200 were 
left behind. They occupied themselves in guarding the 
stuff, that is the household things that were left behind. 
It would be hard if those who went forward and defeated 
the enemy and took an immense deal of spoil had come 
back, and those who had been left behind to guard the 
camp—though equally ready to go forward—had no share 


64 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


in the spoil; indeed on one occasion, when no one had 
been left behind to guard the camp, the enemy had 
come in and captured the camp, so that the men who were 
actually victors in one part of the battle had lost their 
stuff or household things ; and so it was found necessary 
for some to guard the camp while the others went into 
battle. It was therefore laid down by David that the 
share was to be equal between all the men. That is, if a 
man was doing his duty by guarding the camp, he was 
to share in the spoils the same as the man who had done 
its duty by going into action. 

That is what David, a man after God’s own heart, 
settled, and that is what God settles for us now. 

All who do their duty will have an equal reward from 
the Captain of our Salvation. Now, boys and girls, that is 
a lesson to you all. The hundreds of you who come here 
to listen to me cannot all become famous in this world ; 
but do not imagine that they only who become famous will 
share the spoil. The share will be equal to all if you 
do your duty to God and to man. Though the leader in 
the great battle gets the glory and honour, he could not 
win the engagement without the help of all those who 
take part in the engagement. A great poet—Tennyson— 
tells of the captain of a ship who had been very cruel 
to his men, a very unusual thing for the captain of an 
English ship to be. And the men dare not rise against 
him in mutiny. They simply waited their time. These 
men resolved when the day of danger came that they 
would do nothing for the captain. So one day, when the 
ships of the enemy came into sight, the men went to their 
guns but they resolved not to fight. The captain called 
to the men, but they were silent. The captain was a brave 
man, but what could he do? Shot after shot of the enemey 
poured in, and the ship went down. The men sold their 
captain into shame. They had forgotten the great lesson 
which we all have to learn. 

The question is not ‘‘ What have I to do?” but “How 
am I doing it?” It will be nothing but shame if you are 
not doing your duty well. You may be in the humblest 
condition of life, but if you do your duty well it will be 
noble in the sight of God. There was living a short time 
back, near Charing Cross, a harness-maker. He was in a 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 45 


very humble position in life. He had three sons—one son 
became a Lord Chief Baron, a second became a Field 
Marshal in the army, and the third became the Lord Chief 
Justice of England. One ci them died only the other 
day. When a man—not unkiidly so—reminded the Field 
Marshal that his father had been a saddle-maker near 
Charing Cross, the old soldier replied: “I know he did 
his work well; I should be ashamed if any one said he did 
his work badly.” Noble words! It is not what you do, if 
it be only to tarry by the stuff; if you do your duty you 
will all share alike in God’s sight. 

I have a word to say to you particularly, little girls. 
Your true position in life is to tarry by the stuff, to keep 
to the home. You have a noble duty to do there. The 
father or mother goes out into the battle of life and 
becomes a great soldier or preacher of the gospel. You 
have your own duty to do—to make home the best place 
where your brothers or, in time, your husbands can be; 
and your portion in the great share of the spoil of the 
world will be share and share alike. To you, girls, who 
tarry by the home, comes an equal share. Some of the 
greatest in heaven are those women who ministered to 
the Son of man. 

The best place to learn this is in the life of Jesus 
Christ. Three and a half years of toil and shame, and then 
the Cross; but, oh, after that the glory of the Eternal 
Son of God. Remember His life, His death; think ever 
of His cross and passion, of His eternal glory ; and pray 
and strive night after night, day after day, when you rise 
in the morning and when you lie down at rest, pray that 
you may do nobly the duty God has given to you to do, 
Do it in humble trust, not in your own strength, but in the 
strength of Jesus Christ, who loved you and gave Him- 
self for you. 

(sii rs) 


XIII. Solomon’s Prayer. 1 Kuincs iii. 7. “Zam but 
@ litile child.” 


WHO is the little child that says this? It is curious, but 
it was not a little child at all. Trace the words up, and 
you find that they came forth from the lips of a full-grown 


46 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


man. He spoke them in a dream by night. Follow him 
next morning, and you will see that he is a king. He 
wears a crown. Yet here he says “I am but a little 
child.” What made him say it then ? He had ascended 
the throne of his father David, who had trained him in 
the nurture and admonition of the Lord. So he was 
humble, and thoughtful, and distrustful of himself. “I am 
but a little child.” But his people—Judah and Israel— 
were many. “They cannot be numbered,” he says; and 
they are God’s chosen people, and a great people. They 
required therefore a monarch who should be worthy of 
such a people. God knew this too, and He intended to 
furnish Solomon with those very things. 

But He will try him first, and before giving them, will 
have him ask for them. Accordingly in a vision, as 
Solomon slept, God said to him, “ Ask what I shall give 
thee.” Now the uppermost thing in the new king’s mind 
was a desire for wisdom. So after a short and beautiful 
preface about his beloved father and God’s faithfulness 
both to him and himself, he lets the secret of his soul 
spread its wings and fly heavenward in the cry “I am but 
a little child: I know not how to go out or come in. Give 
therefore Thy servant an understanding heart, that I may 
discern between good and bad.” 

That cry went up (far above the soaring, singing lark) 
to the ear of God. The answer descended, silently as the 
rain on a blossom, straight as the dove on Jesus, abundantly 
as the dew on Gideon's fleece. Solomon from that hour 
was the wisest man there ever was, or will be. “ Neither 
after thee shall any arise like unto thee.” 

You would be delighted to have such a vision as that, 
and to have it prove true. But is it not so that God bids 
us all ask what He shall give to us? “Ask and it shall be 
given you.” Does He not say to us, “If any lack wisdom 
let him ask of God, and it shall be given him.” 

I. Remember though you are “but a little child,” God 
notices you. 

If He notices those who feel themselves to be but little 
children, He surely notices those who are little children. 
We see this notice of them very frequently in the Bible, 
such as Moses, Samuel, the captive Hebrew maid, the mere 
babes blessed by Jesus. God notices you. He marks all 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 47 


your ways and doings, at home, in the street, at school. 
The bedridden lad in the garret who said to the city 
missionary, “I’m left alone from breakfast to supper, but 
mother locks Jesus in with me when she takes the key, and 
I have such sweet times in talking to Him and repeating 
my hymns and texts to Him,” that little lad realized 
that God noticed him. 

II. We are taught that though you are “but a little 
child,” He would have you pray. He said to Solomon, 
“ Ask what I shall give thee,” that is, pray to Me. “They 
that seek Me early shall find Me.” A little child once 
wrote a letter to Jesus, directed it to Him and dropped 
it into the post-office. He had seen his father writing 
letters to his friends and getting replies from them in 
the same way, so he determined to use the same plan 
in addressing Jesus. That was very simple faith in 
Christ's willingness to be addressed by a little child, and 
- doubtless it was lovely in His sight. But prayer is the 
right and certain plan of addressing Him. You may be 
as confident that He is listening, as if you were kneeling 
at His feet, or exchanging telegraphic messages with 
Him. 

III. We are taught that you should ask God for wisdom 
You may think that it is too glorious a thing to expect 
God offers it freely to you little children. This is Solomon’s 
testimony about it, “ Her ways are ways of pleasantness. 
and all her paths are peace.” Whatever you want, wisdom 
will supply it ; it will help you to fight against temptation. 
to subdue a naughty temper, to bear a reproach, to be 
cheerful under trouble. In short, when God gives an 
“ understanding heart”’ He gives a new heart. When He 
gives us wisdom, He gives us His Holy Spirit, and that 
is better than the fairest face, the costliest dress, the 
most splendid fortune. 

IV. We are taught here that if you ask for wisdom, 
God will give it you, and other things too. God does 
give wisdom to little children who ask for it, and He 
has given all little children the capacity for it ; and Henow 
wants to put the pearl into the casket, when they shall 
open it to Him and ask Him to put it in. Then He will 
be able to add other things to it without doing you harm. 
Where the “understanding heart” is viewed and treated 


48 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


as the first thing, He can give besides wealth, or friends, or 
pleasures, or beauty, or all of them together. At any rate 
that is the gate out of which they issue as blessings, and 
if we enter at it, we may look for them, or else settle 
it with ourselves that God withholds them because they 
would not be blessings to us. 

Will you let Solomon’s prayer for an “understanding 
heart” be yours? Will you let it be your prayer all 
through, till your rosy cheeks are exchanged for grey hairs, 
nay, till the last milestone is passed and the next is your 
own tombstone. 

If so, we can promise you a childhood of joy, a youth 
of success, a manhood of influence, an old age of tran- 
quillity. 

“Get wisdom,” and you have got all this, and eternal 
“riches and honours” besides. 

J. B 


XIV. The Little Maid. 2 Kings v. 1-27. 


IN former days, when one king ruled in Scotland and 
another in England, the people near the borders very 
often fought against each other, even when the two 
countries were at peace. At one time the English would 
cross the borders and carry away from Scotland all they 
could get, and at another time the Scotch would march 
into England and burn English castles, and drive off 
English cattle, and bring back English prisoners. 
Something of the same kind went on between the 
Israelites and the Syrians, about 2,700 years ago, Once 
when the Syrians marched into the kingdom of Israel, 
they carried off among their captives a young girl. The 
Syrian general saw her, and was so much pleased with 
her appearance, that he took her home to be a little servant 
to his wife. Naaman was the name of this general. The 
Hebrew slave girl soon noticed that there was something 
wrong with her master. He was captain of the host, a 
great man with the king, and held in honour by all the 
people as a mighty man of valour; dut he was a leper. 
Everybody young and old has some du¢z. We would be 
happy, du¢ for this. We have some things, du¢ we have 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 49 


not that. Naaman’s du¢ was a very serious one. His 
seems to have been a case of white leprosy. Little white 
spots appeared on the face and then covered the whole 
body, till the leper became as white as snow. These spots 
grew to the size of a pea or a bean. The nails of the 
hand and feet became scaly. The teeth began to drop 
out, and the fingers and toes to drop off. The whole body 
became a mass of disease, and the poor victim was often 
thankful when death came to end his misery. The general 
was not very bad yet. But if he had been in Israel, even 
as he was, he would not have been allowed to command 
the army. He would have had to live by himself. Even 
in Syria he knew he would soon have to retire into private 
life. The little maid saw and heard something of all this. 
She knew enough to make her very sorry for her master. 
So one day she said to her mistress, “I wish very much the 
general could go to the Hebrew prophet in Samaria, for I 
am sure He could cure him of his leprosy.” She was @ very 
good girl, and she aid a great deal of good. 

See what a very good girl she was. Hers was a very 
hard case. The soldiers had carried her away captive, and 
Naaman was their general. Manya one in her place would 
have said, “I hate these Syrian soldiers and everybody 
connected with them. My master is their captain, and has 
been the means of killing and making slaves of many of 
my people. Iam very glad to see him suffering so much, 
and to see his wife so sorry. I have my revenge.” Even 
without going so far, she might have fretted and brooded 
over the past, and taken no interest in her master or mis- 
tress. But she did not cry and sulk. She was like a little 
flower plucked from a far-off garden, and taken away to 
be all alone in a strange place. But, like that flower, she 
carried a sweet fragrance along with her, and filled her 
new home with a delightful odour. She was not revenge- 
ful, but forgiving ; she was not selfish, but thoughtful of 
others, and thankful for their kindness, She felt for 
others, and tried to make them happy and to do them 

ood. i 
‘i But besides this, the little maiden showed she had not 
forgotten the religious lessons of her childhood. She 
had no mother now to tell her about the God of Israel. 
The people she lived among were worshippers of idols. 


50 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


But she remembered what her mother had told her of the 
True God and of the great works He enabled His servants 
todo. She had heard of the prophet of the Lord, Elisha, 
who lived in Samaria, and she believed that he could heal 
the sick and do great wonders by the power of God. And 
so she said to her mistress, “I wish my master were with 
the prophet that is in Samaria, for he could recover him 
of his leprosy.” Some of you remember about the great 
woman of Shunem. She made ready a little room for 
Elisha, and called it “The prophet’s chamber,” so that 
whenever he passed that way he came and dwelt in it. 
She was married and, like everybody else, she had a but. 
She had no family. Afterwards, however, she had a child, 
and he became a fine boy. One morning he was on the 
harvest-field with his father looking at the reapers who 
were busy cutting down the grain. All at once he cried, 
“My head, my head.” His father told one of the lads to 
carry him to his mother, and he sat on his mother’s knees 
tlll noon, and died. Elisha raised this little boy to life 
again, and said to his mother, “Take up thy son,” which 
she did very gladly and thankfully, you may be sure. 
Now the little maid remembered this, and she believed 
that the man who could do that, could cure her master’s 
leprosy. 

She told her mistress about Elisha, and soon the king 
of Syria heard what she had said. And the king of 
Syria sent a letter to the king of Israel. And Elisha 
heard of it, and said, “Let Naaman come to me, and he 
shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.” Then 
Naaman went to Samaria, with a grand chariot and fine 
horses, and a number of servants. I cannot tell you all 
that happened, but Naaman was cured by going, as the 
little maid desired. The result was that the God of Israel 
was made known to the heathen as the Great God to 
whom all should look for help. Naaman himself said, 
“ Now I know that there is no God in all the earth but in 
Israel.” 

Now is this not a good example for boys and girls, 
and for men and women too? We should all be for- 
giving and thoughtful of others. We should try to make 
one another good and happy, and not bad and miserable. 
And whatever you young people forget when you go 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 51 


——. 


from home, you should remember what your fathers and 
mothers, and ministers and Sabbath-school teachers have 
told ycu about your heavenly Father and Jesus Christ 
His Son, and the Holy Spirit, and the Bible, and the way 
of salvation from sin and misery. You see, too, how 
much one person can do. This little maid sent a great 
man to God’s servant, and his leprosy departed. And 
boys and girls still can be the means of sending persons— 
who may be very clever and rich and great, but who have 
a sad spiritual leprosy—to the Son of God, who is a Great 
Physician, able to save to the uttermost all that come to 
Him. And remember a boy or girl may do a great deal 
of evil as well as a great deal of good. Let all of my 
young friends be like the little maid and try to do good, 
and every little will help to make the world good and 


happy. 


“ Little drops of water, little grains of sand, 
Make the mighty ocean, and the solid land ; 
Little deeds of kindness, little words of love, 
Make our earth an Eden, like the heaven above.” 


W. H. G. 


XV. Where to Carry our Sins. Ps. xxxii. 7. 
“ Thou art my hiding-place.” 


You often see your minister look very severe when he 
speaks about sin. Your Sunday-school teacher tells you 
about fighting a giant, though it turns out that she means © 
no real giant, but some habit of wrong-doing. And David, 
in his thirty-second Psalm, calls what kind of a man very 
happy or blessed? The rich man? The educated man? 
The famous man? No; neither of these; but the man 
who has somehow got rid of his sins. 

Now, you may not know it, but you are all on the 
side of preacher, teacher, and Psalmist. Your fist was 
doubled up last week as decidedly as if you really had a 
giant on hand to fight, and your face was as earnest as 
David’s must have been when he began this song of his. 
A boy in school had told a falsehood about you. Tell 
me, what did your clenched hand and your scowl mean? 
They meant that just then you keenly felt hatred for one 


52 SERMONS TO CHILDREN, 


sort of sin. We always despise sin in others when that sin 
makes us suffer or lose anything. But very often we see 
that we ourselves have done before now the very things 
we loathe so in others. Our eyes seek the ground when 
we straightway remember some falsehood of our own, 
some bad thought we once harboured ourselves. We 
become very wretched indeed. Paul tells us, in Romans 
that we feel then as if our souls lived inside a dead body, 
and that we could cry out: “Oh! wretched man that I 
am !” 

I. The remembrance of our sins is grievous tous. They 
are like a corpse in our charge: where shall we bury it 
from sight? Poor David shows us in this Psalm that 
he imagined he could bury them in his own bosom. “I 
kept silence,” he says. So you have more than once made 
up your mind, “T’ll say nothing to anybody about my sins, 
and I'll stop thinking about them myself.’ But, with 
Israel’s king, you have found that silence is not peace. 
“My bones,” he writes, “waxed old,” or, literally, rotted. 
The body of death is not yet buried. His friends may 
think well enough of him, but God reads his heart with an 
eye as piercing as the Palestine sun, which, you know, 
seeks every blade of grass and withers it. “Day and 
night Thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is 
turned into the drought of summer.” It is certain, you 
see, that we cannot bury our sins where they will cease 
to trouble us. 

II. The covering of sin. Was not the covering of his 
‘sins the very thing that David was rejoicing about as he 
began his Psalm with “ Blessed is he whose sin is covered ” ? 
Yes ; but the next verse tells us who it is that covers sin: 
“Blessed is he to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity.” 
It is very joyful news to us that the Lord who buried 
Moses’s dead body where no one could find it, has under- 
taken to bury the body of our sins. When the sun comes 
out after a gloomy rain, on some of these May afternoons, 
remember that He said: “I have blotted out, as a thick 
cloud, thy transgressions.” 

III. How the Lord hides sin. David makes haste to 
tell us how the Lord hides our sins: “I said, I will con- 
fess my transgressions unto the Lord.” That means that 
we may make our Heavenly Father our Confidant, and 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 53 


with sorrow tell Him the very worst secrets of our hearts. 
No mother was ever so gentle and gracious with us as He 
is. We have no sooner cried in bitterness of soul, “God 
be merciful to me a sinner,” than He bids us “Go in 
peace.” This is just what the beloved disciple teaches us. 
“If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and 
the truth is not in us; if we confess our sins, He is faithful 
and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all 
unrighteousness.” 

A year ago a friend of mine was trying to cross the 
Simplon Pass into Switzerland. While he was in one of 
the tunnels near the summit an awful avalanche of snow 
thundered down the mountain side. It did not harm him, 
though, because he was hid away inside the rocky tunnel. 
There are worse things than avalanches hanging above the 
path each of you must travel before you die: grief, pain, 
temptation. Where will you hide in the day of trouble ? 
The ostrich, when chased, buries its eyes in the sand, and 
thinks itself safe from the hunter because it no longer sees 
him. Foolish bird! But too many a boy and girl tries to 
forget sin by turning the mind away from it. Why not 
learn a lesson from your baby brother? When he hears 
a strange knock at the door he runs and buries his face in 
the skirts of his mother, and is safe. Why not, when you 
feel troubled about your sin, go away to Jesus, with the 
words of David here: “Thou art my hiding-place ?” 

M. D. B. 


XVI. The fear of the Lord. Ps. xxxiv. 11. “Come, 
ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the 
Lord.” 


I WANT to talk to you for a few minutes about why the 
Bible was written. 

Some of you when going to school in these days carry 
a parcel or a bag of books, and if I met you on the way 
and said to you: “ What’s this book for?” I suppose you 
would be able to answer, “Oh! that is a geography.” 
“And what is this book written for?” “That is a 
grammar.” “And what is the use of that one?” 
“Well, that is an arithmetic.” And so I could go on, 


54 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


through all your bag of books, and you would be able 
to tell me generally why the books were written. One 
was written to teach arithmetic, another history, and 
so on. 

Now, I wonder if I asked you for what purpose the 
Bible was written, what sort of answer I should get. I will 
tell you what David thought about it. There is a beautiful 
verse in one of his Psalms which I think specially belongs 
to children, and it says something about the purpose for 
which the Bible was written. 

“Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach 
you”—who can finish the verse? “The fear of the 
Lord.” 

I think, then, that the Bible was written in order to 
teach us that. David wanted children to listen to him, 
and there is a great deal in this Old Testament that we 
have from David, and it seems to me that when he was 
writing for other people it was to teach them that beautiful 
fear of the Lord. Now, if you will “hearken unto me” I 
will try to teach you what this fear is. We must first or 
all try to find out what it is not. There are some kinds 
of fear which are not quite like the fear that David talks 
about. My home was in a very lonely country part, and 
the nights were very dark, and there are woods not very 
far away, and I did not like being sent out into the dark. 
Well, just imagine a boy coming home one night full of 
fear and trembling, yet not knowing what he was afraid of. 
The moon was not shining, so he could not be afraid of 
his own shadow. And coming on along the quiet road 
he hears a noise with every step he makes, a sound of a 
horse’s feet or of the sheep rapidly running away as they 
hear his lonely step. And the fancy keeps returning that 
he hears an unusual noise, and at length he hears that 
there really is something coming nearer. 

What shall he do? His courage nearly all deserts him ; 
he does not exactly know what to do’ Perhaps it would 
hardly be safe to whistle, nor yet to turn out of the road. 
So he comes on with fear and trembling until he sees it is 
some person, very tall and strange-looking, and as he 
comes nearer he stops, and the man says—what? “Is that 
you,my boy?” “Ah! yes, father!” What a wonderful 
relief it was. And that little boy was very full of fear, and 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 55 


was specially afraid of that dark object as it came nearer 
and nearer. 

But was that the sort of fear, was that the fear of the 
Lord that David wanted to teach the people? No! we 
learn that sort of fear soon enough—directly we have done 
wrong—and we learn it without any teaching. Can you 
tell me of anybody who was afraid of the Lord much in 
the way I have described? In the Book of Genesis, the 
very beginning of the book, some one was afraid. “Adam 
and Eve”—some one says—were afraid. Yes! when they 
heard the voice of God, when He was walking in the 
garden in the middle of the day, they went and hid them- 
selves; but depend upon it that was not the sort of fear 
that David wanted the children to learn. “The fear of the 
Lord” was not to be afraid of Him, was it? And now 
let us try to find out what it was, for it is much more 
important to know what it is than what it is not; perhaps 
it is more difficult to find out what it is. When I find a 
thing difficult I generally like to illustrate it by a story. 
Now, I know a true story that has something to do with 
“the fear of the Lord.” 

A little friend of mine, a charming little girl, is the 
subject of my story. Some of our best stories, I suppose, 
are not true, but truth is stranger than fiction. This 
true story is of this little girl She went to stay with her 
auntie out in the country, and there were a great number 
of damson trees in her auntie’s garden, full of their purple 
fruit. Mary was fond of any ripe fruit; she liked to go 
and pick the fruit off the ground, to shake the lower 
branches and pick up the fallen apples or damsons, And 
one day damson pudding came on the table, and little 
Mary enjoyed it very much until her aunt looked across 
the table and said, “ Mary dear! what are you doing with 
the stones?” “Why! swallowing them auntie.” “Oh! 
but you must not swallow them.” Well, Mary was a 
curious little girl, so she said, “Why may not I swallow 
them?” Now her uncle was a funny fellow, and he said, 
“T will tell you Mary! if you swallow the stones they will 
grow, and if one grows out of the top of your head it will 
spoil your best bonnet.” But Mary said, quickly enough, 
“Oh! then I can easily shake the tree and down will come 
the damsons.” 


56 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 

But her aunt said, “Mary! you are too young yet to 
know why it is wrong for you to swallow the stones, but 
you are old enough to know that it is wrong to do what 
aunt tells you not to do; and if you do, it will make God 
sorry.” Then said the little girl, “I will never do it again 
if it makes God sorry.” Next day there was some sort of 
damson again, and Mary was very proud of her new virtue, 
and so she placed the stones in a nice row round her plate. 
But very soon auntie was called away from the table, and 
when she came back all the stones were gone. 

“Where are they?” “I have swallowed them, auntie,” 
said the little girl, sobbing. “Well, never mind, darling, 
I will forgive you.” “But” came again through her sobs, 
“God is sorry.” Then her aunt saw that it was not 
enough to comfort her, and so she took her away out of 
that room into another. And they both knelt down and 
prayed to God a prayer something like this: “ Dear Jesus! 
please to forgive Mary for doing what her aunt told her 
not to do, and for making you sorry. Amen.” And then 
she came out, feeling quite sure that though God had been 
sorry for her disobedience, He had freely forgiven her. 

And now, ever since I heard that quite true story, I have 
felt that I knew what the fear of the Lord was, and that 
it was the fear of making God sorry. It is to be afraid 
of anything that would grieve Jesus; and I say the Bible 
is written to teach us that very thing, how not to grieve 
God and not to make Him sorry. I am afraid this pur- 
pose is often forgotten, and here I must speak to the elder 
ones. It is frequently forgotten when we attend our Bible 
classes from week to week. It is right for us to want 
to know the facts of the Bible, but are we not often apt 
to forget this ultimate purpose for which the Bible was 
written? I think some persons reverence the Bible asa 
man does a telescope who does not use it. There it is! 
a beautiful thing, to be kept nicely polished, placed like 
a handsome book on a nice little table. I say nothing 
against having a nicely bound volume; I am not sure that 
I am not pleased when I see it. But let it be for use as 
well as for ornament. If a man has a telescope, a valuable 
one, the proper thing is for him to use it in reading the 
heavens and bring them nearer. 

And so it is with the Bible. It is a telescope by means 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 57 


of which we can get to know these things. I say some- 
times, too, that it is intended to be used like a time-table, to 
tell about the starting of trains and the journey. Fancy 
a man studying Bradshaw’s guide, and going on to the 
Continent without it; he may easily miss finding some 
high mountain or finding time to ascend it because he 
goes without his guide. The Bible is intended to be of 
spiritual help to us, to assist us to scan the heavens and 
to help us to learn the fear of the Lord. 

Now, there are reasons given in this thirty-fourth Psalm 
where David wants the children to learn the fear of the 
Lord. One is this: “ The angel of the Lord encampeth 
round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.” 
To have the fear of the Lord is to have angel guardian- 
ship. 

I need only just remind you of that scene in the Old 
Testament, where one of the prophets sees his servant 
greatly alarmed because the Assyrian armies were round 
the city. But the prophet prayed that God would open 
the eyes of the young man that he might see the mountain 
afar off covered with chariots and horsemen. “Far more 
are they that are with us than they that are against us.” 
To have that fear of the Lord is to put ourselves under 
Divine guardianship. “Fear the Lord! Oh ye His saints, 
for there is no want to them that fear Him.” That is the 
thing we are to have if we like. We ask for foolish things 
sometimes; but if we learn to fear the Lord, we shall be 
anxious to please Him. He will take care that what we 
really want shall be given to us. 

Then there is another fine saying; “The fear of the 
Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Depend upon it, we 
are quite foolish if we have not learned the fear of the 
Lord, for it is the very alphabet of wisdom. 

I trust the young men will not get the absurd notion 
that in order to seem manly and wise they must throw off 
their beloved Sunday school, their attendance there, their 
reading of the Bible; and yet they must do all this if 
they would seem wise in the eyes of those whom they 
would please. 

But, depend upon it, the profoundest wisdom is here, 
and he only gets enlightened by it who begins with the 
fear of the Lord, the fear of making God sorry; and I am 


58 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


sure this fear will grow in us. If we are only studying 
Christ we shall get to understand Him better, and what 
He has done for us. Our hearts will be drawn out towards 
Him, and we shall very naturally fear to grieve Him; not 
because of the consequences, but because we never like to 
grieve those we love; and if we learn to love God and 
Christ, then we shall soon learn to know what the fear of 
the Lord is about which I am speaking, and which the 
Bible was written for the purpose of teaching us. 

May every one of you learn to use this Book wisely, and 
you will soon learn the sweetness, the happiness of this 
fear. 

E. S. 


XVII. Summer and its Lessons. Ps. xxiv. 18, 
“ Thou hast made summer.” 


SUMMER! Is there not a wonderful charm in the word! 
During the bleak days of winter or spring how often we 
send our thoughts a little way forward and say to our- 
selves, It will be summer soon. So through many a long 
hour the poor sufferer has been cheered, almost fed, by the 
hope of the warm sunshine and the blue sky of summer. 

I. What does the summer say concerning Him who 
made us. The power to discover the beautiful and appre- 
ciate it is a great gift of God. All do not possess it in 
equal measure; but most of us have it to some extent, 
and we should cultivate the capacity far more than we do. 
Is not summer a time for so doing ? 

What do we discern of God, who is the Everlastingly 
and Infinitely Beautiful, in all the works and glories of the 
summer ? 

One thing we observe: how much ts done, and yet how 
simply all zs done. There is a marvellous force and variety 
of life, so that you never see two things “twins at all 
points.” How many purposes are served by the same 
objects! The grass, whose soft green refreshes the eye of 
man, sustains the life of numberless creatures. The hills 
both secure the rainfall and protect from the sweep of 
winds. What ministries are fulfilled by the river and the 
wood! All are so ordered, so adapted, as to serve and 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 59 


assist in the working out of some benevolent aim. And 
how simple are all the laws and ways by which the great 
world is made the workman of God! You think of the 
sunshine which is the blessing of summer. How is the 
earth gladdened by the sun? The old pagans used to 
think that the sun swam around the sea during night, that 
he might be in his proper place in the morning. We know 
that the earth is made to turn once a day before the sun, 
now one part and now another thus receiving of his light 
and warmth. And so with regard to rain: the sun is 
made to draw water up from the sea and the land, and the 
vapour makes the cloud, and the cloud makes the rain. 
And, in this way, all who are wise and observant may 
learn every hour that the most wonderful thing about the 
mind of God is the manifoldness, and yet the simplicity, 
of His wisdom. 

Another thing which strikes us is: how constantly, through 
all God’s works, we can vead the blessed name—Saviour. 
Some of you, perhaps, are not too young to have felt that 
there is a peculiar, I might say, an unspeakable emotion 
excited by the loveliness of a lovely summer day. It 
is a luxury merely to exist. Nay, that is not all. When 
you get away from noise and _ stir,—away beneath the 
mountain-shadow, or at the river-side, or in some sweet 
chapel of the great universe-temple, away where the moun- 
tain and the hill seem to break forth into singing, and all 
the trees of the field to clap their hands—there are feelings 
and thoughts awakened which you cannot express. It is 
the feeling of love, and that is the healing power of summer. 
We want to get away from town and breathe the fresh air, 
and live in the health and sweetness of nature. It is the 
touch of God the Saviour that is felt by the weary, worn- 
out man. 

Yes; the summer preaches Christ. It preaches Christ 
both by what it has and by what it has not. It has not 
the way of happiness. You can be in the midst of all the 
beauty, and yet be miserable. The sun and the moon 
cannot tell you whethe: God will forgive ; they cannot 
give a peace that will keep your heart and mind ; they 
cannot make you holy; they cannot lead you to glory. 
The Milky Way is not the way to Heaven. No; you 
need another Book along with the Book of Nature. When 


60 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


the one is in your heart, oh, how glorious in its teaching 
is the other ! 

Thus it is that all the loveliness spread around us seems 
to say, “ Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach 
you the fear of the Lord.” 

II. What does the summer say concerning us for whom 
it was made! We notice first how silent and how gradual 
the progress of life is. Is not this suggestive of what 
is true concerning us all? We move from one stage to 
another, and we scarcely notice it. As the days pass we 
are leaving ever so many things behind ; there are uncon- 
scious influences which are making ever so many things 
new. 

Why the growth, the ripening, which in summer we 
see? First, it is because seed was sown at an earlier time. 
Was it bad seed? You can tell that by the result. Was 
it good? You cantell that too. Further, even during 
spr ng you know that in regard to some things a certain 
protection was necessary. The geraniums, the asters, and 
so forth, were kept from the cold; they could not be 
bedded out until the soil was ready, and the agencies which 
develop life were more powerful. Nay, further stiil, you 
can tell me that in the bright summer-time it is quite need- 
ful to be ever and again weeding and hoeing and caring 
for the plants and the grain. Now, do you understand 
that what we have thus traced is a parable of you and me? 
This is your morning, and parent and teacher and minister 
are sowing the seeds of knowledge and goodness, hoping 
and praying that God may give the increase. And because 
you are not yet able to do for yourselves, you are held in 
the wholesome discipline of home and the gentle restraints 
of school. The hour is coming when you will be planted 
out. Oh, how anxiously do those who are interested in 
you think of that hour! 

Summer, with all its loveliness, seems to say, “ The tzme 
zs short; watch, and pray, and work.” Already we have 
passed the longest day. A few weeks and the foliage 
will begin to shrivel, the glory to depart from the earth. 
Yes, the time is very short. Cannot some of you feel 
this, who cast your eye back twelve months, and remember 
that then there were hands which touched yours that have 
vanished, and voices which spoke to you that are still? 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 61 


Very short! But we must not cry over water that has 
been spilt. Gather up your hours, redeeming the time. 
We can all glorify God; for we can all, in His strength, 
be dutiful and make others happy. 

J. ML 


XVIII. “ The Joyful Sound.” Ps. Ixxxix. 15. Blessed és 
the people that know the joyful sound.” 


THERE are two things in this text to be noticed. There 
is something joyful—the joyful sound; that is the thing 
spoken about. Then there is the other thing—the people 
that know it. That is quite a different thing. There may 
be a joyful sound and I may not hear it. I may have no 
ears to hear it, or I may shut my ears. 

I. What is this joyful sound? There are many joyful 
sounds in the world. Music is a very joyful sound, and 
you are often trying to produce that joyful sound. But 
there is something sweeter than music—a sound which 
reaches to the inward ear, to the soul. The sweetest of 
all sounds to the soul is the love of God in Jesus Christ. 
Was that known when this eighty-ninth Psalm was written, 
hundreds of years before Christ came? Yes; because 
Christ was always going to come, and there were people 
who knew about it—prophets who taught about it, and 
priests who offered up sacrifices pointing forward to the 
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. 

They did not know so much about it as we may do, but 
they knew enough to make them happy, and to save them, 
and take them to heaven. And the children knew too, for 
parents were told to tell their children. 

Now what are some of the things that make this sound 
joyful? It is joyrul because it tells us how we are to get 
our sins forgiven—all sinners,old and young. It is only 
in one way that our sins can be forgiven—through the 
blood of Jesus; and if we come to that fountain filled with 
blood all our sins will be washed away. Will you not 
know this joyful sound, and take it into your hearts, and 
receive Jesus ? 

This is a joyful sound because when we receive it we 
get our hearts made new and clean, What a beautiful 


62 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


thing it would be if our hearts were made clean and white 
as Adam’s was when he was in his innocence; and how 
much better still if they were made pure, like the heart of 
the Lord Jesus. That is what Christ does for us—for old 
and young. Our hearts are far from being so pure and 
holy and loving as they should be, while we are here; but 
they are beginning to be so, and they will be so fully in 
heaven. Take this joyful sound as yours and then your 
hearts will become pure. 

II. The people that know of this. 

There may be a great deal of happiness we do not enjoy 
because we do not know about it. If any one left you 
a sum of money in a will, that would be a joyful sound; 
but if you did not know about it you would lose the 
blessing. There is in the Gospel something like this; it 
is called a Testament. Christ left us this Testament to 
enjoy, after He died. We publish this to the heathen that _ 
they may enter into possession of this treasure. If a 
treasure is left us, we must go and claim it ; we must know 
of it; we must believe and take it. Receive this precious 
legacy of eternal life. “Peace I leave with you, my peace 
I give unto you; that is, to all of you that will take it. 
God offers pardon and peace to all the world, to whosoever 
will take it. Come to Jesus now, and then you will know 
the blessedness of feeling your sins forgiven; you will 
anticipate your heaven below, and at last you will have 
perfect blessedness, 

jy. G 


XIX. The Spread Net. Prov.i.17. “ Surely in vain 
the net ts spread in the sight of any bird.” 


THERE are two opinions as to what this means. Some say 
that no bird is so foolish as to go into a net which he sees 
you spread for him. He has a little head and little brain, 
but not so little wit as to do that. Others think that 
Solomon means to say that, even if a bird sees you spread 
the net, he has not wit enough to know what it means, and 
will hop into it. 

But though we are uncertain what Solomon thought the 
birds would do, there is no doubt at all as to the lesson he 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 63 


would teach us. He is talking to young people, and means 
to say that some of them are silly enough to go into the 
net of sin in order to get a few crumbs of pleasure, even 
though they ought to see that the devil was spreading it 
for their destruction. He is saying how easily “ gulled” 
young people are by temptation. You know we get that 
word “gull” from the birds which come down from the 
Arctic regions, and fish in flocks in our harbours and along 
our coasts, and who, some people think, are easily caught. 
But that is a mistake; for those who have tried it say that 
it is rather an insult to the gulls to think that they are so 
easily gulled as some men fancy they are. 

We sometimes think Satan is so very shrewd that he 

‘can deceive any human being. But God does not allow 
him to deceive those who keep their eyes and ears open. 
The deceit is in ourselves ; for the Bible says, “ The heart 
is deceitful above all things.” The Bible also says, “The 
devil goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may 
devour ;” but God makes him roar first, so that everybody 
can get out of his way. If any of us die through sin, God 
will write this epitaph for us, “Thou hast destroyed thy- 
self” (Hosea xiii. 9). He compels Satan to spread his net 
in our sight. 

We can see him spread it with the eye of Conscience. 
The smallest children as well as the lowest savages have 
a conscience which tells them right from wrong. When 
Stanley, the great traveller, started through Africa, he 
knew that he would find wild tribes who could not under- 
stand his language, but he knew that they understood the 
language of conscience—the same in him and in them. So 
he ordered his men never to steal from a savage, never to 
break a promise, however insignificant it was, and never to 
harm a human being. One day he met the fiercest of the 
tribes. Expecting that they would attack him as the other 
tribes had done, he was surprised at their kindness. When 
he learned to understand a little of their language, he asked 
why this was. They said, “Because we sent a canoe up 
the river, with a woman and a boy, and plenty of pro- 
visions. If you had been bad people, you would have 
taken that canoe. Then you would have had to fight us; 
but, see, we have left our spears on one of the islands.” 
Stanley was right in supposing that the language of con- 


64 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


science was universal, and had not been confounded as our 
tongues were at Babel. So there is not a boy or girl who 
does not know what is right and what is wrong. All sin 
is as clearly seen as if you could watch the devil's fingers 
setting the net. 

Then the Bzd/e tells you what is right and what is wrong. 
As if a good man who loved the birds should shout and 
drive them away when they hopped too near the net, the 
Bible calls out (Prov. iii. 15), “ Avoid it, pass not by it, turn 
from it, pass away.” God shouts over the net, “ The soul 
that sinneth, it shall die.’ Solomon represents Sin as sit- 
ting down by the door of a house, and saying, “ Whoso is 
simple, let him turn in hither. Stolen waters are sweet.” 
But as policemen stand by the doors of some of the gam- 
bling dens in our city to warn the thoughtless not to enter, 
God’s prophet stands by Sin’s door, and says, “The dead 
are there. Her guests are in the depths of hell.” It is as 
if the floor were one great trapdoor, which tilted the silly 
victim down to perdition. 

Then other people's experience of the consequences of sin 
shows us that it is the devil’s net. If you knew how many 
are suffering from their evil habits, you would turn from 
yours as you would from a rattlesnake’s den. They say 
you cannot catch the birds if you leave the dead bodies of 
those already caught around the cage. But Satan’s net is 
surrounded with the piles of his victims. I was once asked 
to bury a man whose name those who asked me would not 
tell. He died in a hovel, with such pain of body, such 
horror of mind! He had held the highest offices in the 
land ; but sin had so ignominiously slain him that no one 
wished the world to know it. 

And perhaps some have found out that sin is Satan’s net 
by their own sad experience. Your bad habit makes you 
feel so condemned, so mean, so weak, that you have said 
to yourself, the end of this is destruction. A bird whose 
leg has been broken in getting out of the net has been 
known to fly straight into another ; and some young people 
do the same thing. In hunting deer at night we creep up 
to them and suddenly flash the light of a dark lantern into 
their eyes, and, while they stand a moment wondering at 
its meaning, the fatal buliet pierces the deer’s heart. I 
have tried to shoot a deer who sprang into the thicket at 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 65 


the first gleam of light. It had no fascination for him, be- 
cause he had seen it before and been wounded by the 
bullet. But I have known young men who would stand 
and be shot again and again by temptation, though it 
seemed as if Satan had opened the door of heil and flashed 
its firelight into their very faces. 

Are you the victim of any sinful habit? I doubt if you 
can deliver yourself. You may be like the fluttering bird 
who entangles himself the more in the meshes. But Christ 
came to “proclaim deliverance to the captives, and to set 
at liberty them that are bruised.” By the power of His 
cross He destroys the meshes of guilt, and by His Holy 
Spirit He heals and strengthens the moral purpose which 
has been weakened by the habit of sin. But if, my young 
friend, you have not yet entered the net, give Him your 
faith, and He will answer the prayer which he has taught 
you: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from 
evil. 

| Es 


XX. The Treasure Trove. Prov. ii. 1-15. Jy son 
if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with 
thee; so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply 
thine heart to understanding; yea, if thou criest after know- 
ledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding ; tf thou seekest 
her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures ; then 
shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the know- 
ledge of God.” 


You will first of all take notice how in this passage God 
speaks to youas to children. It is God that speaks, though 
Solomon writes the words: and He says, “Myson.” Here, 
then, is the word of a Father addressed to you in love; of 
a Father, moreover, who never makes mistakes, who knows 
what you really need, whose care of you is constant and 
tender, and whose light to guide you is of the highest kind. 
Hearken, therefore, to what God your Father says. 
Remark this also, that your Father speaks to you one 
by one. As if each of you were His only child, He says, 
F 


66 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


—~ 


“My son.” Suffer His word to come close to you; hear it 
as if you were in your closet, and a gentle voice you knew 
to come from glory were speaking to you. 

In truth, the voice is gentle, for wisdom is no other than 
the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Notice four things here brought before us. 

I. There is a precious treasure. 

You can tell what it is. It gets three several names in 
the text, but they all mean the same thing,— wisdom, know- 
ledge, understanding. You know that wisdom is the oppo- 
site of folly. Folly chooses show, wisdom takes substance. 
Folly is all for the present, wisdom takes into view the 
future. If you took folly into a room where there were 
glittering gauds of no value lying beside unpolished jewels, 
it would covet the trifles that shone, and despise the worth 
that was dull. 

Nearly fifty years ago, there was a long, severe frost in 
London, and the river Thames was frozen over for weeks. 
So the people built streets of shops over the icy surface, 
and there was driving and buying, and all kinds of plea- 
suring upon the river. But one night, suddenly the thaw 
set in, and the solid ice heaved and cracked and broke 
away into pieces, and booths and merchandise were hurled 
down the flood. Suppose some man had said, it would 
be far nicer to live in the beautiful ice street, than in the 
narrow lane where I now stay, and had moved all his fur- 
niture and all his family into a new dwelling on the river, 
what would have become of him and his that night? This 
supposition goes to show how folly takes up with the 
present merely. Heavenly wisdom, taught of God, says of 
sinful pleasures, they are not what they seem to be; they 
are fine coloured fruit, but hollow and corrupt within, and 
they do not last. Wisdom does not lay up treasure on 
earth, but in heaven; for it says, I must soon be done with 
earth, and heaven abides. 

II. The field where the treasure lies. 

The field is the Bible. It was while walking and digging 
in this field that young Timothy found it. From a child 
he had known the Holy Scriptures, which were able ta 
make him wise unto salvation. Sinners need wisdom for 
salvation ; they need to be taught how to be reconciled 
and restored to God; and that sort of wisdom is to be 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 67 


found nowhere else. If we should go down to the sea- 
shore and say, Oh, great salt ocean, canst thou wash my 
soul clean from the stain of sin? the ocean would reply, 
no, not with all my waves. But go to the Bible, and you 
will get knowledge how to get quit of sin, both in the guilt 
and the power of it. Salvation is revealed in the Bible. 
Whoever recalls and remembers the words of the Bible, 
has the treasure in his very heart and mind. 

III. The search after the treasure. 

To find the treasure lying in the Bible you must read it 
with a purpose, wishing to find wisdom. Gold must be 
searched for with care, even where its glittering grains mix 
with the river’s sands; they must be diligently sought out. 
So any reader who would find wisdom unto salvation in 
the Bible must be in earnest about it, and think, and search, 
and compare, and pray. Persevere; seek till you find. 
The gold digger does not soon get weary; many a disap- 
pointment love of riches overcomes. Do not say it is hard 
work to search. For besides that the reward is great, the 
very search is sweet. A literary man of name is reported 
to have said, that if God should give him his choice of two 
things, truth, and the search after truth, he would rather 
take the last. The quest, with all its toil, is good for us, 
It is training, it is health. 

IV. The discovery of the treasure. 

The glad thing to know is, that it is sure to be found by 
searching. It is not every digger that finds store of gold. 
But seekers after wisdom are sure to find. Then, when it 
is found, it is a very precious treasure; “ Then thou shalt 
understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge ot 
God.” We shall find Wisdom, the Lord Jesus. To find 
Him is joy and peace. 

If we find wisdom we shall understand the fear of the 
Lord. It is easy, without search, to know the dread of 
God. But fear that adores, stands in awe yet rejoices, can 
only be taught by Jesus. He shows us how God forgives 
and brings our hearts back to Him in childlike trust. 

Have you found this treasure? If so, ye arerich indeed. 
See that ye hold fast the treasure ye have gotten. 

Have you not yet found this treasure? Oh, ye are poor 
and wretched. Away to the field and dig. Read, think, 
pray. Hear what Jesus says, “ Whoso findeth Me findeth 


68 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord. But he that 
sinneth against Me wrongeth his own soul: all they that 
hate Me love death.” 

J. E 


XXI. Knowledge and Wisdom. Prov. x. 14. 
“ Wise men lay up knowledge.” 


THE Bible has a good deal to say about wisdom and about 
wise people. It is hard to tell exactly what this word 
“wisdom” means. Great men have often tried to define 
it, but sometimes their descriptions of it are harder to 
understand than the word itself. Sometimes it is supposed 
that folks who know a great deal are always wise; but 
that is certainly a mistake. A man may have a good deal 
of knowledge in his head, and yet have but very little 
wisdom. 

Wisdom tells us what to do with things—how to use 
them. , 

When people get to be wise, then, they learn how to use 
things properly. Here in the text we are told what wise 
men do with knowledge. They do not neglect it, or pass 
it by as of no account, or forget it; but they lay it up. 
They store it away as a man does his gold in the safe or 
bank, as a farmer does his hay in the mow and his grain in 
the bin, ready for use when it is wanted. 

How are we tolay up knowledge and thereby gain wisdom? 

I. The first rule we must follow is this: Apply the mind 
to zt. Some of you have found out already that this is hard 
work. The mind does not usually want to be applied to 
study. It is like a wild, skittish colt. Did you ever see 
one running loose in the pasture? It does not know any- 
thing about pulling a load or carrying a saddle, or being 
led by a halter or driven with reins. It has to be taught 
gently and by degrees; maybe it will have to be whipped 
a little; it must be encouraged, and broken in, and then, 
by and by, it will apply itself to its work; it will pull at 
the heavy load until it starts the wagon; it will mind the 
word of the driver, and go, or back, or stop, just as he 
wishes. 

Now, the mind is like that wild colt, and needs to be 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 69 


broken in, too. Our minds will never mind unless we make 
them mind. 

Now, there are many people who grow up with minds 
which have never been trained. They cannot think easily, 
or remember well, or study at all. They are not fond of 
reading, and do not love books. When they were young 
they did not apply themselves, and now that they are 
grown up they are too old to learn very much. They miss 
a vast deal of pleasure, and are not worth nearly so much 
to themselves or to others as they would be if they had 
studied hard in childhood and youth. 

You have often seen soldiers marching on parade. They 
step all together as if they were one man. At the com- 
mand, their arms are brought all at once down at their 
sides or placed up on the shoulder. It all looks very nice 
and easy; but if you would ask them how it was done, 
you would find that they had to be drilled and disciplined 
a long time in the armoury and in camp before they 
learned how to go through with what they call the manual 
of arms. They had to apply themselves in order to lay up 
their knowledge of military matters. 

By following this same rule a child can grow up to be 
master of his mind just as the soldiers and sailors learn to 
use with ease and skill their hands and arms and limbs, 
He will learn how to think and reason ; how to get at the 
truth and find out things; how to use his eyes and ears 
and voice ; how to observe what is going on in the world 
about him; how to treasure it all up; and how to enjoy 
for ever the true, the beautiful, and the good. 

II. The second rule that must be followed in order to 
lay up knowledge is this: Remember. 

The Wise Man in the Bible—you know who this is, do 
you ?—says, “ Get wisdom ;” and then he adds to this the 
counsel, “ Hold fast instruction.” It is not enough to get 
knowledge, but we must keep it. We dothis by a wonder- 
ful power which the mind has, called the memory. 

Did you ever try to carry water in a sieve, or colander, 
or in a straw hat? If you have tried such a foolish under- 
taking you have failed. You found that all the water 
quickly ran out. Now some people have memories that 
are like a sieve. Nearly everything put into them runs 
out again. 


yo SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


Yet, hard work as it is, if you keep adding a little every 
day to your store, you will by and by have saved up 
abundance of knowledge and wisdom. 

III. The last rule to be heeded in laying up knowledge 
is: Seek the right kind of knowledge. 

There are many sorts of knowledge. Much of it is worth 
a good deal. The branches that you study at your school 
will be of service to you for years tocome. When you go 
to college, if you wisely use your time and opportunities, 
you will get knowledge there, and something better than 
knowledge—command of your mind, control over yourself 
—which will be a blessing to you throughout life. But, 
after all, there isa higher knowledge than any you can get 
in schools. There is a wisdom which you can learn only 
from God’s Book. St. Paul knew much about everything 
that men thought good and great in his day. But he says: 
“«T count all things but loss forthe excellency of the know- 
ledge of Christ.”” The Saviour calls this precious know- 
ledge of Himself and of the way of life ‘‘ the pearl of great 
price.”” This knowledge will teach you how to control 
your bad temper, how to fight bad thoughts, how to be 
useful to others around you, how to do work which you 
ought to do in life, how to grow up to be strong, good, 
true, courageous menaud women. Whatever otherknow- 
ledge you lay up, dear children, besure that you lay up 
this best of all sorts of knowledge—the knowledge of the 
Saviour and of eternal life. jbo. 


XXII. The House of Wisdom. Prov. ix. 1-5. 
‘* Wisdom hath builded her house, etc.” 


I. THE HousE.—The house is the house of wisdom. In 
this house is the fear of the Lord, and in every part of 
it is written, Holiness to the Lord. It is a very strong 
house; it rests upon seven pillars. Nobody can pull it 
down. Satan has been trying for six thousand years, but 
he has not pulled it down yet. And wicked men have 
been trying to pull it down, but they cannot doit. It 
won’t come down; let them try to pull it down—they will 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 71 
not be able. The foundations are sure, very sure and very 
deep. 

It is a largehouse. It can accommodate millions. Itis 
a well-built house, like the well-built city in the Book of 
the Revelation—the New Jerusalem. 

It is this large, strong, beautiful house of wisdom that 
we ask you to enter. We ask you to enter, for God is 
here, Christ is here, the Holy Spirit is here; wisdom 
is here, and life and peace and joy. It is a house full of 
song and of gladness,—a house in which God delights to 
dwell. 

II. THE OPEN Door.—It would be of no use to speak 
to you about the house, though it was large and beautiful 
and strong, if there was no door, or if the door was not 
open. It is always open; it is never shut, day nor night. 

Do you remember any one that spoke of Himself as the 
door? Christ. What did He say? ‘‘I am the door.” 
Christ was the house and also the door of the house,—that 
is the wonderful thing; just as He is the Shepherd, the 
fold, and the door of the fold. 

It is an open door; any onecangoinat anytime. Men 
shut the doors of their houses and shops at night, but the 
door of this house is always open, day and night, summer 
and winter; you can always get in at this open door. 

May anyonegetin? Yes. Insome exhibitions I have 
seen written up, ‘‘ Children under twelve not admitted.” Is 
that written up over this door? No. May a child of 
twelve years old get in—of ten, of five years? Yes. May 
a little babe getin? Yes; for Jesus has said, ‘‘ Of suchis 
the kingdom of heaven.”’ It is an open door; you don't 
require to open it; you can just walk in. It is free tothe 
young and to the old, to the rich and to the poor. The 
door has been standing open very long—ever since Adam 
fell, six thousand years ago. 

And it is large enough toadmit all. Suppose there was 
a great crowd wanting to get in, could they all get in at 
once? Oh yes. Suppose all Great Britian,—Scotland, 
England, and Ireland,—suppose all Europe, all the earth, 
—America, Asia, Africa,—were wanting to get in, they 
could all get in, for it is a wide door in one sense, though 
narrow in another, and it is always open. 


72 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


Do you need to wait to get in? No. If I wanted to get 
into one of the Queen’s palaces I should have to go for an 
order. But you don’t need to go for an order, for a line or 
certificate, to get into the house of wisdom. You have got 
an order already. 

If you were invited to visit the Queen, you would have 
to put on particular clothes; you would not be admitted 
without. What kind of clothes are you to put on before 
you go into this house of wisdom? You are to go just as 
you are. 

Is there anybody standing at the door to hinder you 
going in? Is therean angel standing there to hinder you ? 
Or ministers? No; they stand there to help you in. 
Christian, in the Pilgrim’s Progress, saw a man trying to 
get in at the gate of a palace, and he had to fight his way 
in, because Satan would have hindered him. But a sweet 
voice was heard from the top of the palace, saying, 


“Come in, come in, 
Eternal glory thou shalt win.” 


This is what I would sing, and what angels sing from the 
heavenly towers— 


“ Come in, come in, 
Eternal glory thou shalt win.” 


It is an open gate, for the young and for the old, for the 
rich and for the poor, for the foolish as well as for the wise ; 
and no man was ever kept out because the door was not 
open. Thousands have been kept out because they would 
not come in, but no man was ever kept out because he 
could not get in. I was once kept out of Jerusalem. The 
sun had set and the gate was shut. I knocked, but could 
not get in. I did not like to have to wander round the 
walls all night ; robbers might be there, and jackals, and 
dogs. I took out a piece of silver, and the man inside saw 
it, and ran and got the key. I should not have got in if I 
had not paid that piece of silver. Is that the way with this 
door of the New Jerusalem? No; the angel that keeps 
the door does not say, You will not get in unless you pay 
measum of money. He say, “ Glad to see you; come in, 
come in!” 

Ill. THE FEasTt.—There are a great many feasts 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 73 


spoken of in the Bible, both in the Old Testament and in 
the New. Lot madea feast, Abraham made a feast, and 
Isaac and Jacob. Feasts were joyful things in those times, 
and people gathered round the table to be happy together, 
—not in sin, not to get drunk, but to be happy together. 
There are one or two special feasts mentioned in the Bible. 
Our Lord speaks of a marriage feast, and the invitation 
went out, Come, for all things are ready! And we have 
the Lord’s Supper. There is still another supper that has 
not yet come,—the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. In this 
house of wisdom there is a feast, a wonderful feast, some- 
thing for us to feed upon, something that will satisfy our 
hunger and quench our thirst—something of which if a man 
eat he shall never hunger, and of which if a man drink he 
shall never thirst. 

What is the first mention of food in the Bible? “Of 
every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat.” After 
that, you find in the Bible a great many things concerning 
food. Israel ate manna in the desert; there was the shew- 
bread in the tabernacle; and there is what is called the 
hidden manna. Jesus says, “I am the bread of God which 
came down from heaven ; My flesh is bread indeed, and My 
blood is drink indeed.” I put all these together, and say, 
Here is God’s feast for the foolish, for the hungry and 
thirsty. It is a Divine feast. Should not you like to sit 
down at this heavenly table? This feast is free, free! 

IV. THE Company.—lIt is a curious company that 
are gathered in this house of wisdom. It is the lame and 
the halt, and the maimed, and the blind, and the leper. 
All are sick, foolish, sinful ; but then they are all changed. 
Once they step across the door of this house of wisdom, 
everything becomes new; for “if any man be in Christ 
Jesus, he is a new creature.” He gets a new heart as soon 
as he comes in,—new clothes, white raiment ; new eyes to 
see, new ears to hear, new hands to work, new feet to run ; 
all things are made new. 

The company you find here is a wonderful company. It 
is a company of sinners, and yet it is a company of saints. 
If you want to know their character before they come in, 
you have just to look about you in this wicked world. 
And then read in the seventh chapter of the Book of 
Revelation,—“] beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which 


74 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


no man could number, of all nations and kindreds and 
people and tongues, who have washed their robes and 
made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” They were 
foolish before; they are wise now. They were wicked 
before; they are holy now. They did not love God 
before; they love Him now. They loved sin before; they 
hate sin now. They did not care for Jesus before; they 
care fo. Him now. They find round about them men like 
themselves, a strange company of the redeemed, from Abel 
down to the present day. What a blessed thing to be in 
the midst of such company as this,—Abel, Enoch, Noah, 
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Solomon, and Paul 
and John and Peter. That is our company, and will be 
our company for ever and for ever. What a blessed thing 
to be in such a house and in such company through all 
eternity !—the company of God, of Christ, of angels, of 
saints! And how awful to be shut out from such com- 
pany! 

V. THE WELCOME.—Is everybody welcome? Yes. Do 
you remember when the prodigal son came back to his 
father’s house, what the father did? “When he was yet a 
great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and 
ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.” That is the 
sinner’s welcome from God. God wants you to come back, 
every boy and every girl. But does He know your name? 
Yes. And if you go to His house, what will you say to 
Him? The prodigal tells us what to say. “Father, I 
have sinned.” That is the way to go back. When will you 
go back? If you go will the angels say, It is too soon ; 
you must come back to-morrow? No; they will say, 


“ Come in, come in ; 
Eternal glory thou shalt win.” 


But if you go just as you are, will they say, You cannot be 
admitted with such a dress? No. Did the father say that 
to the prodigal son? No. What did he say? “ Bring 
forth the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his 
hand and shoes on his feet.” The prodigal did not need to 
make the robe, nor to buy it, nor to buy the ring and the 
shoes, nor the fatted calf. The father provided all these, 
and gave a father’s welcome to his boy. He was glad to 
get him back again, 2nd He wants you back, He does 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN, 75 


not want you to wait till to-morrow. He says to young 
and old, Come back, with all your sins, and come to-night 
where all good things are, and you will get of My abun- 
dance, drink of My wine, and be refreshed with the pure 
water of the river of life, and feed on that tree of life which 
is in the midst of the paradise of God. Welcome, welcome! 
is what God says to you; and if Satan says you are not 
welcome, tell him he is a liar, for God says you are wel- 
come. 

Enter this house, to find the joy, the life, the love you 
cannot find anywhere else, and that God is so willing to 
give you, to make you happy for ever. Come unto Me, all 
ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you 
rest! Come unto Me, all ye that hunger and thirst, and I 
will give you meat and drink! Ho, every one that thirst- 
eth, come to the waters! Behold, now is the accepted 
time ; behold, now is the day of salvation ! 

H. B. 


XXIII. Bad Company. Prov. xiii.20. “He that walk- 
eth with wise men shall be wise; but a companion of fools 
shall be destroyed.” 


IT is as if the text said: “Don’t, on any account, make 
companions of the foolish.” If the wzse are such as fear 
God, the fooltsh must be such as don’t fear God—such 
as have no fear of God before their eyes,—the ungodly. 
Look at some of the marks of these: flattery, dishonesty, 
zdleness, evil-speaking, Sabbath-breaking. 

I. Beware of FLATTERING friends. I shall try to ex- 
plain. A companion wishes you to do what is wrong. 
He knows you would refuse if he were directly to propose 
it. So he makes great professions of friendship: he is 
more anxious to be friends with you than with anybody, 
you are such a fine fellow. Having thus paved the way, 
he makes his proposal: “Come, join us in this. If it had 
been a bad thing, you are the last I would have thought 
of coming to. It will do you no harm.” That is one of 
the “crooked ways ”—the serpent-like ways, in which some 
succeed in tempting to sin by ffattery—praising you, and 
pretending to be your friend. Many fall in this way who 


76 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


else would stand firm. There are flatterers among children 
as well as among men. A companion of such shall be 
destroyed. 

II. Beware of DISHONEST friends. I mean both plain, 
downright stealing, and something else. I know some are 
thieves whom people would little suspect. I warn you of — 
them. Our prisons have had more than one young thief 
from schools and churches like those which you attend. 
Solomon says regarding such: “ My son, if sinners entice 
thee, consent thou not!” Refuse,—say Mo. But I don't 
merely refer to the stealing of money, or fruit, or such 
things. There is a scholar copying from the slate or book 
of another, or gaining a place in his class by unfairness. 
That is stealing—that is dishonesty, whatever may be 
thought of it. Say, “It is wrong ;” say, “God sees!” A 
companion of such shall be destroyed. 

III. Beware of IDLE friends. Indolence and idleness are 
little thought of, yet are they very sinful and very hurtful. 
Some one has said that the devil tempts the busy, but the 
idle tempt the devil. And— 


“Satan finds some mischief still, 
For idle hands to do.” 


Now you must have noticed that idlers try to keep other 
people from working. You see it in our streets,—you see 
it at school. No good ever comes of an idle scholar ; and 
he is a dangerous person to have to do with. 

IV. Beware of EVIL-SPEAKING friends. I refer to tale- 
bearing, which is ever a mean, low, vile thing; but I 
also refer to all kinds of improper language—low, trifling, 
wicked words. Like bad books, such words pollute the 
minds of those who hear them, and leave marks which per- 
haps will never be wiped out. Those who use low, bad 
language must have a bad heart; and it is sure, sooner or 
later, to end in a bad life. Don’t laugh at such, don't go 
in their way ; put your finger in your ears, and run out of 
sight. And what shall I say of swearing, which also is too 
common, even among the young? Flee from the presence 
of a swearer, be he young or old. It is not manly—it is 
not gentlemanly ; it is base—devilish—it is the language 
of hell. A swearing companion must be bad ; a companion 
of such shall be destroyed. 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 77 


V. Beware of SABBATH-BREAKING companions. This 
is a very common but very grievous sin. I have seen the 
effects of it but too often and too sadly. It leads to many 
other sins, and often comes to a sad end. He who would 
tempt you to break the Savbath is one of your worst 
enemies. Tell him that God is wiser and more your friend 
than he, and that God says, ‘‘Remember the sabbath day, 
to keep it holy.” How many mournful cases show that 
the companion of Sabbath-breakers shall be destroyed ! 

Such are some of the bad companions against whom we 
are warned. Why are we to beware of them? Because, 
as in the other case, we are in danger of growing like them. 
As in the case of some terrible, infectious diseases, if you 
go near, it will be a wonder if you do not catch the in- 
fection. 

Beloved young people! don’t be laughed into what is 
evil; don’t be threatened into what is wrong. Make a 
companion of your 4zd/e: you will find it both safe and 
profitable. Still more, make a companion of Him of 
whom it tells—/eswus. Whatever other friends you have, 
make sure of the friendship of Jesus. Take no friends as 
yours but those who will be friends to Him. And in order 
to have Christ as your Friend, you must have Him as your 
Saviour. ‘That is the oxly way. He is willing to be the 
Friend of the youngest, of the poorest, of the most wicked. 
He says to-day, “Come.” He says, “I will in no wise cast 
out.” jE W. 


XXIV. Left to Himself. Prov. xxix. 15. “A child left 
to himself bringeth his mother to shame.” 


A CHILD left to himself! I daresay, my little friends, you 
have often pitied a child left to himself. When you have 
been going through some poor street you have perhaps 
seen a poor child ragged and forlorn, and cold and hungry. 
The whole look of the child seems, “I am left to myself.” 
The cold wind pours through his ragged clothes—a child 
left to himself. I have seen a very sad sight sometimes ; 
a little child of eight, nine, or ten years old, who has com- 
mitted some crime, and has been brought before the judge 
Such a child, knowing neither how to read or write, has 
been found to have been left to itself. 


78 SEI]MONS TO CHILDREN. 


I want to tell you of a sadder thing still It isa very 
sad sight to see a child so uneducated and left to itself as 
to suffer in its body. But in that sense none of you are 
likely to be left to yourselves. You are well cared for, you 
have warm clothes, and kind friends whom God has given 
the means to care for you. But there is a sadder thing 
@nan all that I have just spoken of—it is a child’s soul left 
to itself—a child who has not heard about Jesus Christ. 
This is why I speak to you at these services. These services 
are for you, boys and girls, that you should not be left to 
yourselves. I want to say a few simple words about com- 
ing to church in the afternoon. 

Always be here in good time You know very well that 
if any of you got a message from the Queen you would 
not be late in attending. You would be in a state of 
anxiety all the morning in order to make sure that you 
would be intime. Here is the King of kings waiting for 
you to learn the lesson which His Holy Spirit teaches. Be 
in time. 

When you come in, pray to God. Do not look around 
to see any of your friends, but pray to God. 

And then remember, in the next place, that you do not 
come to hear the sermon only. You come here, of course, 
to listen to what I have to teach you—so far as God gives 
me the power to do so—but first of all to tell God all you 
need, all about your sins, and to ask God for His dear 
Son’s sake, Jesus Christ, to save you. Remember the 
prayers, remember the hymns, these are parts of the ser- 
vice you come here for as well as the words which God 
speaks to you through His servants. 

Listen to the sermon as a lesson from God to you. 
When God makes me speak to you of some fault do not 
say, “That is for my little friend, or brother or sister.” 
Ask in your own heart, Am I not the one? And then I 
tell you of Christ’s great love, of how He died for you 
when there was not a being in God’s world that cared for 
you. Put your whole trust in Him, cast yourself upon 
Him as a drowning man upon a plank. He is your 
Saviour. All you have to do is to put out your hand 
and say, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” 

And then one more word about coming here. Come 
here expecting that God will give you some good. I do 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 79 
not think you will get much unless you expect it. Come 
here and say, “I am determined something or other shall 
be made mine.” If you were starving, and saw a table 
laden with meat and fruits, you could not be satisfied with 
simply looking at it. It will not do to look around on 
others getting God’s blessing; all that is no good except 
you take it for yourself. Say, all the blessings here are 
for me; all Christ’s love is for me. It must be all taken 
for yourself to be any good. God never leaves any man, 
woman, or child to himself. God sends to some danger, 
and to others blessings and joy; but it is all for the best. 
The most awful thing written of any man is written in the 
Bible. A man had turned to idols, and God said: “ Let 
him alone.” The most awful thing that can happen to you 
is not pain or sorrow, but the one awful thing is, “ Let that 
one alone.” You may thank God even for the pain, even 
for the trouble or whatever it may be that oppresses you; 
it shows that God is not leaving you alone, but is deter- 
mined to have you Himself, through Jesus Christ. As 
long as you can feel a single sentiment in your heart of 
pain when you hear of evil, or of joy when you hear of the 
glad things of Jesus Christ, you may be certain that God 
is not leaving you alone. In moments of lying awake at 
night, in times of sorrow, in times of danger, in all these 
ways God is coming to you, determined not to let you 
alone. In the cold, it is only when he falls asleep that a 
man is in danger. 

A strong man coming home at night one cold day after 
his work, laid down in a lime kiln for warmth, and fell 
asleep. Next morning his comrades found not the man, 
but merely the cinder of what had been the man. The 
man had never felt the fire ; if he had felt it he would have 
been saved. So long as you feel, there is hope; the only 
danger is when you become dead to God’s voice. Then 
we must leave you in God’s hands. Try to make these 
' services a blessing to yourselves. Then is the message for 
you. God says, “Give me thine heart.” Remember who 
asks for it—Jesus Christ, who came from heaven to earth, 
and went through the agony and shame and death—He 
who had no sin Himself, but bore all that to save you, and 
who rejoices againand again over every one who cometh 
to Him, for none shall be cast out. “Give me your heart,” 


80 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


said God. Can you refuse when you think who asks you ? 
It is Jesus Christ. 
T; i Ss. 


XXV. The Good Example of Four Wise 
Creatures. Prov. xxx. 24. “ There be four things which 
are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise.” 


A MAN called Agur once said, “There be four things 
which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding 
wise: the ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare 
their meat in summer; the conies are but a feeble folk, yet 
make they their houses in the rocks; the locusts have no 
king, yet go they forth all of them by bands ; the spider 
taketh hold with her hands, and is in king’s palaces.” The 
wisdom of those creatures is worth thinking about, and 
worth imitating. We will take them one by one. 

I. “The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare 
their meat in summer.” As instinct makes certain insects 
prepare for winter, when they will be certain to suffer if 
they have no store of food, so experience teaches thinking 
creatures that they ought also to prepare for the future. 
Many, unfortunately, are not so wise as these insects, and 
waste money and time to such an extent that when sick, or 

‘without work, or in old age, they have to seek that help 
from others, which, had they been more thrifty, they never 
would have required. 

There are other ways also in which a like want of wisdom 
may be shown. For example, the entrance to most pro- 
fessions is now obtained only after passing strict examina- 
tions, and failure in these is a certain thing to those who 
will not carefully prepare beforehand. In the same way, 
all life is just a series of trials of the results of previous 
preparations. Men and women are useful only when they 
have such qualities as honesty, truthfulness, energy, courage, 
kindliness, good temper, prudence, and some learning. 
These good things are thoroughly obtained only after long 
efforts, and they who do not begin early and persevere 
diligently in seeking them can never be as useful as they 
might have been. Then when we recall how our good 
qualities are put to the test here, we cannot but remember 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 81 


that hereafter all shall be judged “ every man according to 
their works,’ when the results of our lives here will have 
a tremendous influence on a great future elsewhere—a day 
when the books will be opened. 

We may thus all desire that which may make us care for 
our future, as much as instinct makes some insects care 
for their future. 

Seeing thus how much depends on a preparation for 
the future, we ought to seek strength to become “ diligent 
in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.” That 
strength is given to those who acknowledge and serve Jesus 
Christ. 

II. “ The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their 
houses in the rocks.” There are no conies in our country. 
The creatures in this country that they most resemble in 
their habits are our wild rabbits, who, like them, are but a 
feeble folk, and yet often make their homes among rocks, 
or in stony places. A feeble creature can make itself 
strong by thus going where its enemies cannot reach it. 
Foxes, hares, and rabbits, when driven from a low-lying 
country, take refuge in the hills and among the rocks. 
Men hunted by enemies have often had to do the same. 
Sir William Wallace, King Robert Bruce, the Covenanters, 
Prince Charles Edward, and many others that you read 
about in Scottish history and elsewhere, had to do this. 
As instinct and experience thus prompt all creatures to 
seek safety in strong places, so all wisdom tells us that we 
ought to seek safety from troubles and temptations and the 
fear of God’s anger. As children go to their parents in 
distress, so we ought all to go to our Father in Heaven, 

‘who is said to be “ our refuge and strength.” Thinking of 
this, we may remember what our Lord said about the house 
built on the rock and the house built on the sand ; and we 
may remember also how many who have been in trouble 
about us have been able to say :— 


“ Rock of ages, cleft for me, 
Let me hide myself in Thee.” 


III. * The Jocusts have no king yet go they forth all of 
them by bands.” Locusts are large insects that travel 
together in great companies, and eat up everything in the 
fields, so that, where they go, no food is left for cattle or 

G 


82 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


for sheep, and great distress is caused to all the people 
who live there. They are to be dreaded, because they go 
in such numbers. If they were few in number, or if they 
were scattered over the country—a few here and a few 
there—they would have little power, To be wise, then, as 
the locusts, we must learn to work together. What anum- 
ber of people scattered about, and working without direc- 
tion, cannot do, the same number working together, under 
orders, can easily do. It is the long pull, the strong pull, 
and above all, the pull altogether, that does the work. We 
must all try, then, not to quarrel with one another ; but to 
be helpful to one another, to obey orders, and to do our 
duty well. The one careless, bad-tempered boy or girl in 
the family, or school, or workshop, is not much ; but his or 
her badly done work hurts the work and the tempers of 
others; and the strength of the whole “ band ” is lessened. 
We, as Christians, are the subjects of the kingdom of 
heaven, and we ought, therefore, to be as a “band,” not 
spreading desolation, but peace and happiness. Each one 
can do a little to help this great good. 

IV. “ Zhe spider taketh hold with her hands, and is 
in kings’ palaces.” Every boy or girl has heard about 
Robert Bruce lying down and thinking that he was quite 
beaten, and then taking such encouragement from the 
sight of a spider trying again and again to make a web, 
that he roused himself to new exertions that ended in great 
success. The spider gives a wonderful example of perse- 
verance, as all the girls who have to clean rooms know 
only too well. Sweep as you like, the cobwebs will appear, 
and that even in “kings’ palaces.” To be wise as the 
spider we must try, and try, and try again. There are 
lessons to learn, bad habits to be overcome, bad tempers to 
be mastered. When you find that these are difficult, think 
of the spider, and be wise as the spider. 

God has thus given us a good example in these four 
creatures, and as we ought to know much more than ants, 
conies, locusts, and spiders, we show ourselves to be both 
wicked and stupid if we do not learn, like them, to provide 
for the future, to seek true safety, to work well together 
and always to persevere. 

R. W. W. 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 83 


XXVI. The Words of King Lemuel.—Prov.xxxi.1. 
“The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother 
taught him.” 


THAT is the beginning of the chapter, and the chapter is 
full of lessons of wisdom. What I want to speak to you 
about to-day is, that here is a chapter in the Bible, and the 
writer commences by saying that King Lemuel learned 
these words from his mother. What honour is here put 
upon his mother and upon her teaching! If you ask me 
who King Lemuel was, I know nothing but his name. If 
you ask me about the one who taught him these words, I 
do not know her name, but that she was his mother. 

And so what I want you to learn from it to-day, my 
young friends, is the immense importance of what you learn 
while you are young. Here are the words of a mother, 
taught to her child. A mother is the dearest thing we 
have. Do you ever think, boys and girls, how a mother 
looking at the little one coming into the world, wonders 
what manner of child it will be? A good child is a great 
blessing and a bad child is an awful thing. And so this 
mother thought when she looked at her little one, ‘‘ What 
manner of child shall this be?” and she resolved so far as 
in her power he should grow up brave and strong and good. 
It is a little matter whether we become great in the world, 
but oh, it does matter everything whether we aregood. A 
good mother! You know David was king of Israel. God 
had shown him great kindness, but he committed the most 
terrible sins. He became a murderer among other things, 
and yet though he had committed an abominable murder, 
he came back in tears and penitence to God, and he 
pleaded with God. He prayed God to turn to him again 
and save him. And what do you think he called himself? 
“The son of Thy kandmazd.” He pleaded the memory of 
his mother in prayer to God. And so Lemuel—whoever 
he was—was weil looked to by his mother as to his 
character. 

There are two things I want you to remember. They 
are not simple, these two words—character and reputation. 
“T would like to be a person of good reputation,” a boy 
will say. Now, what is the difference between character 
and reputation? Your reputation is what other people 


84 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


think of you. Well, if they think according to what is true, 
it is of importance for you to havea good reputation. But 
character means what God sees you to be. That is far 
more important. Characteris what you are really; repu- 
tation is what people think about you. And so when we 
find the mother of Lemuel looking after his character and 
life, his reputation can take care of itself. Let us be pure, 
true, faithful, holy in the sight of God, and then we shall 
be able to say with one of the noblest men who ever lived, 
St. Paul, ‘‘ With me it is a small matter with any man’s 
judgment. He that judgeth me is the Lord.”” He did not 
care about reputation. The mother of Lemuel said to him, 
‘« My son be true, be pure, be loving, be faithful to God; 
and then let the world say what they like about you.” 

Boys and girls, we shall never know till the great day, 
when all things are made known, what a blessing a mother’s 
words have been—what an influence the things we have 
learned when we have been young have had upon us. The 
things we learn when we are young are infinitely more 
important than when weare old. ‘‘ Train up achild inthe 
way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart . 
from it.’”’ Augustine was a heathen and a man of great 
intellect and great power to do good or evil. His mother 
prayed him to be a Christian, and he struggled against 
sin; and when he was really won to Christ, the mother of 
Augustine said, ‘‘ | have nothing more now to do on earth. 
Why should I remain here? I only wished to linger here 
to see you a Christian. Now God has given me this, I 
want no more.”” Three days afterward she died. And 
though perhaps our mothers are not the saints and heroines 
the mother of Augustine was, still, if we treasure up the 
words of kindness our mothers give us, they will be of use 
in the days to come. I want you to know, my young 
friends, the tremendous importance of the things you learn 
while you are young; and oh, when you come to be old 
you will find the things we meet now—the friendships, the 
love, the lessons, the joys and fears—linger on with a 
strange power ever after. 

I have been told the story of a pit far away in the coal 
country. When the miners had penetrated to a certain 
place they came to what was once an old mine, but owing to 
an explosion forty years before, it had been given up. And 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 85 


there they found the body of ayoung man. He was quite 
fresh, with no signs of decay, because when the explosion 
had taken place,and he had been working there, the explo- 
sion had so driven the earth that he was covered in in the 
coal mine; and his body had been preserved there by the 
strange action of the gas. The body was brought up to 
the surface, and there stood a wondering crowd of men and 
women, and this body, forty years buried there, had still 
the freshness and form of youth. And in the crowd there 
was one old woman of sixty, who was known to spend her 
life in doing good, and was called ‘‘ Mother” by every one. 
She rushed forward with a wild shriek and flung herself on 
the body, and kissed what had been a corpse for forty 
years. 

She had grown old; he had remained young though 
dead. That was the lover of her early days. They were 
to be married the day after the explosion which had killed 
many, him among others, and left his body in the mine. 

It seems to me, some old forgotten love of early life, 
some memories of a loved home, some words of a favourite 
hymn, some words of a loved text, some words of a loved 
father, some words of aloved mother—these lie buried for 
years and years; but they come back some day with all 
the freshness and all the beauty of their early utterances. 
Treasure them, boys and girls, and lay them up, so that 
in the days to come the words of your mother may be your 
help and strength. die sy 


XXVII. White Garments. Eccizs. ix. 8. ‘‘ Let thy 
garments be always white.” 


WHITE isa favourite colour with all of us. There is some- 
thing heavenly about it; and so the Bible describes the 
redeemed as wearing ‘‘ white robes,” and the throne of 
judgment as being a ‘‘great white throne.” 

There is nothing prettier for children to wear than white. 
So we robe our babies in it for their baptism, our brides 
for their marriage, our May queens for their court on the 
lawn. 

But there is acertain responsibility about these ‘‘ white 


86 SERMONS TO CHILDREN 


garments.” They are easily soiled, and what is more 
offensive than soiled white ! 

Now Solomon took his figure from this universal love of 
white garments, and yet the quickness with which they 
get defiled. A Christian’s conscience and character are 
his white garments. The conscience is the inner, hidden 
garment. The character is the outer, visible garment. 
Sin is what defiles them both. Disobedience, temper, 
envy, vanity, falsehood, selfishness—these are some of the 
common spots which appear on them, and it is to put us 
on our guard against these that our text whispers in our 
ears, ‘“ Let thy garments be always white.” 

Now none of our garments are white by nature. We 
are born with sinful hearts. None but the Holy Spirit 
can make them white, or keep them white afterwards. He 
makes them white by convincing us of sin, bringing us to 
Jesus for forgiveness, and implanting a hatred of sin in 
us. 

The Holy Spirit advises us how to keep our garments 
white, and promises the grace for it. We have to use both 
the advice and the grace to keep our garments white. 
There must be a constant attention to five things. 

I. The Bible. 

The Bible teaches us what is sinful, where it lurks, how 
to avoid it, and what God thinks of it, how it grieves Him 
and dishonours them. 

“ Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By 
taking heed thereto according to Thy Word.” 

Half the stains on some Christians’ garments can be 
traced to neglect of the study of the Scriptures. 

II. The Cross—the blood of Jesus. 

Doing our best, sins of infirmity will break out. What 
are we todo? Look to Jesus. To that fountain opened 
for sin and uncleanness we must repair daily and hourly. 
Do not be afraid of His rejecting you because you are 
children. 

III. Prayer. 

By this you will ask and receive grace from Him to 
resist evil. If you trust to your own power, Satan will be 
too strong for you. In the battle you will rely on your 
own armour, and he will treat you as Goliath of Gath 
fancied he could treat David. What is your shield that it 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 87 


should parry his stroke, or your hand that it should fence 
with his ! 

But if, by humble prayer, you draw down on yourself 
the might of the Mightier than he, then you will be a 
match for him, and he will flee before you. 

IV. Watchfulness. 

We must keep on the alert always if we desire white 
garments. No sleeping, no throwing the reins to the horse, 
no yielding our boat to the tide. 

V. Self-denial. 

This is a hard part of our task, but if we are resolved to 
gratify self, it will lead us into hundreds of defiling things. 
“I cannet do this, I ought not, I will not,” are difficult 
expressions to utter, but they are the secret of garments 
“always white.” 

“That “always ” is emphatic, it points to ceaseless anxiety 
and effort. 

Never till death translates us beyond temptation can we 
consider that our warfare in this matter is accomplished. 

There are four reasons why we should cultivate holiness. 

1. Because it insures peace. 2. Because it insures your 
being useful. 3. Because it insures your nearness to God. 


_ 4 Because we shall then be prepared for death. 


J. B. 


« 


XXVIII. “Rock of Ages.” Isa. xxvi. 4. “ Trust 


ye in the Lord for ever: for in Jehovah is the Rock of Ages.” 
MANY young people who know and sing the hymn,— 


“ Rock of Ages, cleft for me,” 


_ would perhaps be at a loss to find out, in the Bible, the 
_ place where that name of our God and Saviour occurs. 


We are familiar with the words, but are they in the 
Scriptures ? 

Do you find that name of God anywhere in the Bible ? 
It describes Him, truly and gloriously, as unchangeable 
and sure, and at the same time as a refuge and shelter ta 
which we may run and be safe. It speaks of security for 
us in Him who, like a great rock, is the same yesterday 


88 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


to-day, and for ever. But is it a Bible name for God, our 
Saviour ? 

“Yes,” says one of our readers, who in reading the word 
turns his eye at times to the margin as well as the text, 
“JT have found it! Itis in Isaiah xxvi. 4: ‘ Trust ye im the 
Lord for ever: forin Fah Fehovah ts the Rock of Ages.’ 
In God Himself, says the prophet, in God, who alone has 
the name “Jah” and “ Jehovah,” you find an immovable, 
unchangeable, safe, secure refuge and shelter and home. 

Toplady, the author of the hymn, was an eminent and 
devoted minister of Christ, who died about a hundred 
years ago. On his deathbed he had days of sunshine from 
the presence of the Lord. He fed upon the Word, and 
sometimes broke out into utterances of adoration and joy, 
as if already in the third heaven. This hymn, so well 
known among us, “ Rock of Ages,” was a favourite one 
with himself. In publishing it, he described it as “A 
living and dying prayer for the holiest believer in the 
world.” 

A beautiful incident in connection with it occurred a 
year ago. One of the “Jubilee Singers,’ a black student 
of Fisk University, in America, was on board a steamer 
that took fire. He had presence of mind to fix life- 
preservers on himself and his wife; but in the agony of 
despair, when all on board were trying to save themselves, 
some one dragged off from his wife the life-preserver, so 
that she found herself helpless amid the waters. But she 
clung to her husband, placing her hands firmly on his 
shoulders as he swam on. After a little, her strength was 
exhausted. “I can hold on no longer,” was her cry. 
“Try a little longer,” was her husband’s agonized entreaty ; 
and then he added, “Let us sing ‘Rock of Ages”” Im- 
mediately they both began faintly to sing, and their strains 
fell upon the ears of many around them, while they were 
thus seeking to comfort each other. One after another of 
the feeble and nearly exhausted swimmers was noticed 
raising his head above the waves and joining in the 
prayer,— 

“ Rock of Ages, cleft for me, 
Let me hide myself in Thee,” etc. 
Strength seemed to come with the song; and they were 
able to hold out a little longer, still faintly singing. A 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 89 


boat, a life-boat, was seen approaching, and they did get 
strength to keep themselves afloat till the crew lifted them 
on board. And thus Toplady’s hymn helped to save more 
than one or two from death by sea, as it has often helped 
to save souls ready to perish. 

But what does that line mean that speaks of the Rock 
as “cleft,” comparing it to Christ’s “riven” or “ pierced 
side”? It refers—1. To the smiting of the rock at 
Rephidim (Ex. xvii. 6), when waters flowed forth like a 
river for the thirsty people. 2. To Moses being placed by 
God in a cleft of the rotk (Exod. xxxiii. 21, 22), perhaps 
just above where the waters gushed forth when the rock 
was “smitten.” It was there, standing in that cleft, that 
Moses saw as much of glory as he could bear, and heard 
God Himself proclaim His glorious perfections. Put these 
two together—the rock cleft that the water might flow 
forth, and Moses standing in the cleft—and you have a 
type or picture of a sinner hid in Christ, who was smitten 
for us, and from whom flow all the streams of blessing to 
our souls. 

Tell all men of this Jesus, “the Rock of Ages, cleft for 
us;” tell sinners young and old, at home and abroad; 
tell the Jew and the Gentile. But all the time see that 
your own heart is full of what you tell to others. Indeed, 
if you yourself are finding a heaven in “the Rock of Ages, 
cleft for you,” your joy will affect others who see it ; just 
as the singing of that hymn, to cheer their own souls, drew 
the attention of so many others ready to sink and perish. 

A. A. B. 


XXIX. The Secret of true Strength. Isa. xxx 7. 
“ Your strength ts to sit still.” 


WHICH of us does not wish to be strong? Strength is 
such a fine thing. It brings us fame, it makes us inde- 
pendent, it is a well-spring of joy in us. We cannot help 
admiring it in others, we cannot help coveting it for our- 
selves. 

I. There are many different kinds of strength. 

There is the strength of the crane, which can lift a couple 
of tons as easily as we could a couple of ounces, There 


go SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


is the strength of the engine, which can drag a train fifty 
times as long and as heavy as itself. There is the strength 
of gunpowder, which can tear a solid rock to pieces, or 
throw an immense cannon ball a mile anda half. There 
is the strength of the elephant, which has to be measured 
by dozens of horses. There is the strength of giant men, 
whose fist falls with the weight of a sledge hammer. 

Then there is the strength of countries, such as our own: 
their power to defend themselves and conquer their enemies. 
There is the strength to bear up under trouble, to resist 
temptation, to overcome evil, to do what is good. And 
lastly, there is the strength which comes of the feeling that 
we are safe, because we are doing what is right and have 
God on our side. 

This is the strength spoken of in our text. The Jews 
wanted to have a sense of security in the midst of foes 
They sought to get it by forming an alliance with their 
ancient masters and oppressors, on the banks of the Nile. 
God was angry at this, and tells them that the strength of 
Pharaoh shall be their shame, and their trust in the shadow 
of Egypt their confusion. They may try, but they cannot 
profit them. “Therefore,” says the prophet, “ have I cried 
to them, that their strength is to sz¢ stz//.” This leads us 
to our second point. 

Il. Zhe secret of true strength. 

The key to the armoury or arsenal is a little thing; but 
it lets you in to the stores with which you could equip an 
army or a fleet. 

Now a lion's strength lies in Ub shoulders ; a giraffe’s in 
his legs; an eagle’s in his wings. Samson’s was found to 
be in his curly locks. A fortress’s is in its walls ; a ship’s 
in its keel; a nation’s in its wealth, and the number and 
bravery of her sons. Strength to endure affliction is in a 
courageous heart; and strength to triumph in the arts 
and sciences is ina gifted mind. But the strength which 
we are talking of is where we should never have ex- 
pected it to be—in sztting still, Is not that curious? You 
would have thought that it was just the opposite, and that 
to have it you must be busy and bustling, and running 
hither and thither, as the ants do to collect their winter 
stores. You say, suppose the ants should sit still, what 
would happen to them? or suppose the squirrels should 


SERMONS 70 CHILDREN. 91 


sit still when the nuts and acorns are dropping from the 
trees ; or suppose the bees should sit still when the dande- 
lions and violets are scenting the hedgerows ; or suppose 
the birds should sit still when the nest-building month has 
begun,—would ¢/ey find that it was “their strength” to sit 
still ? 

But do not let us forget, that, as Solomon says, there is 
a time for everything. There is a time for activity and a 
time for sitting still. I shall answer your questions by 
similar questions. Suppose that the ants ventured to run 
about when there was an ant-eater ready to lick them up 
with his tongue. Suppose that the squirrels ventured down 
on to the ground when the boys were pelting them with 
stones. Suppose that the bees ventured to fly abroad 
when the thermometer was below zero. Suppose that the 
birds ventured to leave their eggs to be hatched by the 
sun. 

So, you observe, that there is a season when the 
“strength,” even of ants, and squirrels, and bees, and birds, 
is to sit still. If they refuse to sit still they expose them- 
selves, and will perish. And are there not those of our own 
race whose strength is nearly always to sit still—infants, 
invalids, prisoners, and the poor slaves! What will they 
gain by restlessness, resistance, and determination to follow 
their own inclinations? Would you not “cry to them con- 
cerning this, Your strength is to sit still?” You, baby, will 
only hurt yourself scrambling about. You, invalid, will only 
hinder your recovery by exertion. You, prisoner, will only 
lengthen your punishment by endeavouring to escape. 
You, poor slave, will only tighten your chains by striking 
before deliverance is at hand. 

And now let us transfer this idea to ourselves. May it 
not often be our strength to sit still? There is weakness 
in much of our fancied strength. We are as foolish as 
the ostrich, which thrusts her head into a bush, and then 
believes that she is safe from her hunters. 

So we fret and wear ourselves out about things which 
really do not “ profit” us, and which, in the hour of trial, 
would be a “shame” anda “confusion” tous. Whata 
deal of looking to creatures there is—bruised reeds at best. 
What a deal of unnecessary work, and reading, and fidget- 
ting, and worrying, and chattering thereis. Is it not quite 


g2 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


the fashion of the day to live publicly instead of in retire- 
ment ; noisily instead of peacefully ; as turbid cataracts 
instead of gentle flowing rivulets? My experience of 
most modern children is, that they are either overdriving 
themselves, or being overdriven on hard and dusty race- 
courses, when, as colts, they should be feeding and training 
out of sight in green pastures. I pity them. I remember 
a childhood of “ quietness and confidence,” which has ever 
since been my strength, and sigh when I notice how the 
sheltered fold is kicked at, and the youthful graces are 
sacrificed for an early show and admiration. 

Now will you listen to advice which is not mine, but 
your Creator’s, Preserver’s, Saviour’s? Will you ponder 
this heavenly counsel? “ Your strength is to sit still.” 

III. I will mention four ways of sitting still and gather- 
ing strength. 

(1) In shunning the glare and excitement of the fashion- 
able world. How this dissipates, exhausts, and enfeebles! 
It drains you as you drain an orange, till nothing remains 
but the empty skin. Cultivate modesty, simple tastes, 
self-discipline, the habit of reflection. Do not be “careful 
and cumbered ” as Martha was; but listen, and learn, and 
love, as Mary did. Sit still in the study—in the sweet 
fields, where nature opens her book to you—in the closet 
where God draws near to you. 

There is no mistaking those who sit still in these respects, 
and how they gain strength in so doing. 

(2) Sit still at the feet of your ministers and teachers. 
Don’t imagine that you are wiser than they, and can be 
your own pilot. You have scarcely touched the ocean’s 
brink, whilst they have traversed it in frequent voyages, 
and seen its rocks and shoals, its tides and storms. They 
can direct you to lamps by which you can walk in the 
darkness, and to planks on which you can cross precipices, 
and woe to those who will not be guided to them. Submit 
yourselves to them in the fear of God. Do not beridiculed 
into self-conceit and presumption. The wild asses in our 
schools and congregations who snuff at the bridles and 
traces generally end in being strangled by the lasso, Ah! 
how they mourn at the last, and say, How have I hated 
instruction and despised reproof. 

(3) Szt still at the cross of Fesus. This is the sitting still 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 93 


which obtains us salvation. The ceasing from striving to 
restore ourselves to God’s favour by our cwn deeds, by 
repentances, mortifications, amendments, charities; and 
the embracing of Christ as our perfect obedience, atone- 
ment, advocate, Friend. It is the deholding the Lamb of 
God, and not the earning God’s mercy ; it is the yielding 
ourselves to Him and His righteousness, and not the 
struggling to establish a righteousness of our own. 

How blessed a privilege, to fetch our load of sin, our 
wounds and fetters, our obstinate will, and our depraved 
atiections, and cast them there before a bleeding Redeemer, 
and then sit still under His championship for evermore! 

(4) Sit still under God’s providence. Do you not grow 
calm in danger when your father plants himself between 
you and it; when he says to you, “ My darling, it shall not 
harm you.” With your father with you, you will dare the 
midnight gloom, the churchyard ghosts, the sea’s crested 
waves, the herd of cattle—you sit still, as it were, under 
his protection. 

Now God’s providence is a thousand-fold what the ten- 
derest father’s protection is. For God is omnipotent, and 
He is aware of whatever there is in the future; and He 
is infinitely compassionate; and He has said that not a 
sparrow dies but He permits it. He clothes the lilies, and 
feeds the ravens, and counts our hairs. He has sketched 
out our path from the cradle to the grave, and what He 
has ordered Hecan control. He will be our shield in battle, 
our watcher in sickness. He will be our pillar of cloud 
and of fire in the wilderness. Cannot we sit still then 
under this providence, and silence our murmurings and 
doubts; and when Satan says to us, Flee or be over- 
whelmed, reply, I am sitting still under the banner of 
Jehovah, and you cannot overwhelm me. 

In conclusion : those who do this will nourish and cherish 
their strength as the flowers do theirs by underground roots 
and imperceptible dews. Resolve to be docile, attentive, 
humble, prayerful. Be fond of shining rather as the glow- 
worm in the lanes, than as a sheet of tin or a bit of broken 
mirror in the street. 

Collect strength now to use it by-and-by. The Lord 
Himself was an example in this, when He went down from 
the Temple to Nazareth, and was subject to His parents 


94 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


for twenty years. Could He “sit still” to mature His 
“strength” for twenty years—He who was God manifest 
in the flesh—and will you be impatient of sitting still, when 
your strength is but as a blade of grass compared with His? 
May He who was your example in this, as in everything, 
aid your doing what is so difficult for you to do, and you 
will prove the truth of the old proverb, illustrated by the 
fable of the hare and the tortoise—/asten slowly. 
J. B. 


XXX. The Lamb Slain. Isa. liii 7. “He was brought 
as a lamb to the slaughter.” 


MosT of us have never seen lambs “brought to the 
slaughter.” We have only seen them on their way to it, 
with the butchers shouting and the dogs barking. Then 
the pretty creatures rushed in at the fatal door; and when 
we saw them again they were hanging dead in the shop 
window! meanwhile, in that dreadful house they had been 
tied with cords, the cruel knife had drawn their blood, and 
they had given up their lives to be food for us. That 
seems hard, very hard; but it is going on every hour. 
Hundreds of thousands of lambs are thus “ brought to the 
slaughter” year by year in England. Now mark what is 
said in this short text, of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ 
—‘“ He was brought asa lamb to theslaughter.” It would 
be solemn if He had died peacefully, as our beloved parents 
do; but He died violently by the hands of wicked men. 
We have to think of Him being “crucified and slain,”— 
“brought as a lamb to the slaughter.” Oh, have you no tears 
for this scene? And do not say, ‘“‘but it happened more than 
eighteen hundred years ago 5 I could not help it, and He 
does not care about it now.” Do you not know that your 
sins brought | Him to the slaughter; that He was “bearing 
your stripes” there ; that it is as fresh in His recollection 
as if it was but yesterday ; ; and that if you are ever to be 
forgiven, and to get to heaven, it will be by simple faith in 
what He then and there suffered i your stead ? 

This is salvatton !—Looking up at the Son of God nailed 
on the cross, bleeding, fainting, thirsting, crying, breath- 
ing out His soul in that sigh, “It is finished,” and saying 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 95 


“He was brought to that slaughter” for me; “He loved 
me, and gave Himself for me.” 

But now let us ask and answer some questions. 

I. Who was the “Lamb?” The Lord Jesus Christ. 

What the prophet says before and after about Him leaves 
us in no doubt about this. Read it for yourselves, and say 
if it is not the Gospel of St. Matthew or St. Luke in a 
parable. 

But what a Lamb was this! the Lamb of God surely,— 
God Himself manifest in the flesh. Study His miracles, 
His teaching, His character, His work, until the apostles 
and martyrs, until kings, and until the angels themselves 
appear utterly unworthy to loose His shoe’s latchet. There 
never was such a wonderful, beautiful, glorious being on 
earth. The marvel is that all creation did not crowd down 
here to behold Him, and worship Him, and shout His 
praise! And yet He here was brought “as a lamb to the 
slaughter.” 

II. What was the slaughter ? 

Sad as this is, we must not hide it from our eyes. The 
Bible is full of the minutest details about it; the mock 
trial, the scourging, the crown of thorns, the spitting and 
blasphemy ; then the weary walk to Calvary; then the 
executioners driving in the spikes; then the scoffing, the 
languishing, the few brief utterances, so expressive of 
intense pain; then the darkness; then the last loud 
wail ; then the sudden silence. 

It was a slaughter so brutal that we would not inflict it 
on a Savage; so shameful, that it was reserved for Roman 
slaves ; so public, that the sun itself interfered to veil Him, 
from those rude gazers; so agonizing, that the soldiers 
themselves wanted to stupefy Him with myrrh and vinegar. 

And not a friend but John and His mother to stand by 
Him ! the rest were actually rejoicing in His torments, and 
taunting Him as if He had been a dog. 

The slaughter of the lamb is purest mercy in compar- 
rison! What mortal terrors would scourge us if it was 
allotted to us. 

III. What “brought” Him here to this slaughter ? 

You say the malice of the Jews and the order of Pontius 
Pilate. These, indeed, were the immediate instruments of 
it,—these were His betrayers and murderers, and nothing 


96 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


can lighten their crime. But still He need not have been 
delivered up to them. He could have escaped from them 
as easily as an eagle from a flock of sparrows. Did He not 
say this as they bound Him in the Garden of Gethsemane? 
But if He had so escaped, how could He have wrought out 
our redemption? Therefore we must remember that He 
was bound for this sacrifice by a threefold cord,— 

The will of the Father. 

His own consent. 

Our guilt. 

The will of His Father, who \aid this commandment upon 
Him,—“ Go, obey and atone for them ; drink up the cup 
of My wrath for them ; bear their chastisement.” 

His own consent.— Lo, I come to do Thy will, I delight 
to doit. Thy law is within My heart.” 

Our guilt He was wounded for our transgressions ; He 
was bruised for our iniqutties. 

Had He broken away from this threefold cord, as He 
might if He had chosen, He could not have ransomed us 
from hell. But He was quiet under it as a lamb,—sub- 
missive as Isaac to Abraham. 

So it was this that “brought” Him to the slaughter. It 
was the fulfilment of His covenant with God, for nothing 
could turn Him from that. When He was perfectly free and 
at liberty, and no one dreamt of His arrest and slaughter, 
He said “I have a baptism to be baptised with, and how 
am I straitened till it is accomplished!” We do not, then, 
excuse the Jews and Pontius Pilate; but we will not forget 
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. The 
Jews and Pontius Pilate could not have brought Him to it 
without Divine permission. 

IV. Why was He brought to the “slaughter ?” 

Ah! why? God had no pleasure in it. He did not 
deserve it. It was not an accident. It was not for His own 
advantage. Then why did He, the infinitely Holy, yield 
Himself toit? There is but asingle reason: it was for His 
people. They were doomed ; He would endure their doom. 
They were accursed ; He would expiate theircurse. They 
were shut out of God’s favour: He would reconcile them 
to God by surrendering Himself to God’s indignation. 
Therefore it is said, “He (Jehovah) hath put Him to grief. 
He hath carried our sorrows. He was smitten of God and 
afflicted.” 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 97 


That was our punishment; but He said, “Inflict it on 
Me, and then pardon them for My sake.” 

It was pity for us, it was the resolve to open the door 
to the many mansions to us, that “brought” Him to the 
slaughter. 

That accounts for it,—it was paying there the price for 
His Church; and the price was sweat and pangs and 
crimson drops that stained the grass of Golgotha. 

In conclusion. How real a thing is Adam’s fall! 

It brought Immanuel to the slaughter. How fearful, 
hateful, must those offences of ours be which rendered His 
slaughter necessary! They are as bad as the Jews and 
Pontius Pilate. 

How easily God can receive us back to His bosom now! 
The spotless Lamb has been treated as if He was the 
“blackest of the black ” for us! 

How fervently we should thank Him, and how closely 
cling to Him! Who has done us a kindness? are we not 
grateful to him or her? But who was brought as a lamb 
to the slaughter for us ? 

How we should try to imitate Him. “As alamb”—so 
meekly, patiently, gently ! so should we conduct ourselves 
in trouble, whether it be from God or our fellow-creatures. 

Has this precious Lamb won our affections yet? Have 
we felt His grace, confessed His right to us, and thrown 
ourselves at His feet! If not, let us lose no time. He is 
waiting to embrace us. Conceive what it would be to have 
wilfully neglected Him “who was led as a lamb to the 
slaughter” for us. He says to us, “Is that othing to you, 
all ye that pass by?” And what will we reply to Him ? 

J. B. 


XXXII. Gates. Isa. lxii. 10. “Go through, go through the 
gates.” 


IN riding across the country, especially in the neighbour- 
hood of noblemen’s estates, there are so many gates to go 
through, that you carry a whip which is made on purpose 
to open them ; or, if driving, the people in the carriage 
take it by turns to jump out and open them, unless little 
rosy-cheeked boys and girls are at hand to save you the 
trouble for a halfpenny. In some parts of America the 
H 


98 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


gates or “bars” are so numerous, that to go through on 
horseback is about as severe a penance as the Pope can 
order you, yet it is the only road to the doctor’s or the 
mill. Have you ever noticed the double and treble sets of 
gates toa prison? You would despair of getting through 
them without the warder’s key, or a miracle such as we 
twice read of in the Book of Acts. God sent His angel to 
unlock them, and at his presence or touch they yielded, 
and the Apostles went through. 

I remember when a child, a certain day when Queen 
Adelaide was to come in a chariot and four from Oxford 
to Windsor. As the scarlet liveries were seen approaching, 
the turnpikes flew wide—who would have dared stop that 
company for toll, or anything else? Was it not the royal 
command, “Go through, go through the gates?” 

Now so in our text; it was a royal command. It was 
God’s voice to the Jews. For their transgressions they 
were exiles in Babylon. For forty years their captivity 
had lasted ; but there was to be an end of it. They were 
to return to their own beloved land. King Cyrus would 
issue the decree (Ezra i. 1-3). The brazen gates of the 
heathen city, so long closed against them, should let them 
pass out, and they should depart for Zion with song, and 
everlasting joy upon their heads. This was God’s promise 
to them. It was about to be fulfilled, and already the 
prophet cries aloud to them, “Go through, go through the 
gates!” 

Gates are useful things. They keep out stray animals 
which might otherwise wander into our fields and gardens, 
and ravage them as the hippopotami do the rice plantations 
on the banks of the Upper Nile. They are also useful in 
keeping in our flocks and herds, so that we can leave them 
at night without tethering them, as the Indians and Arabs 
are obliged to do theirs. They are useful, too, as land- 
marks—they answer the purpose of mile-stones and sign- 
posts, in reminding us where we are, and how our journey 
is progressing. Without these breaks in it, we might forget 
how far and how fast we are travelling. And then they 
are still further useful as drawing forth our activity; if we 
are lazy or timid, they will check us. 

In the Bible we have a variety of gates spoken of. There 
was the gate of Paradise, out of which Adam and Eve 


SERMONS T0O;},CHILDREN. 99 


actually had to be driven—through which they were hur- 
ried, weeping and woful; and then it was guarded by the 
flaming sword of the cherubim. 

There was the gate of Sodom, out of which Lot and his 
wife and daughters were urged by their heavenly visitors. 
Had they not gone through it, they would have been burnt 
alive ; for hardly were they escaped, when the storm of fire 
and brimstone burst over that guilty race. 

There were the gates through which God led the Israel- 
ites from out of the bondage of Pharaoh into the possession 
of the land flowing with milk and honey. He said to them, 
“ Go through, go through the gates!” when the gates were 
the dry bottom of the Red Sea, with the waters piled on 
the right and the left; and when they were the dry bottom 
of the river Jordan, with the waters cut off and “piled ina 
heap” a league above. 

There were the gates of Jerusalem, through which David 
fled before his wicked son Absalom; through which 
Stephen was dragged to martyrdom by the mob; through 
which our Lord walked, bound and surrounded by soldiers, 
who had just arrested Him in Gethsemane, and through 
which, a few hours later, he issued bearing His cross to- 
wards Calvary, and followed by the lamenting women. 
And there were the beautiful Temple gates, through which 
the worshippers went in to the altar, the table of shew- 
bread, the golden candlestick, and the veil which hid the 
sacred ark. You will think of more, it may be; but now 
I want to talk about the gates which we ourselves have to 
go through :— 

There are gates which we cannot help going through. 

There are gates through which we should escape. 

There are gates which we should strive to enter. 

There are gates which shut us in for eternity. 

First, there are two gates which we cannot help going 
through. I mean we have no choice about it—we have 
to go through them whether we will or not. Weare not 
asked if we will, or would rather not ; we go through them 
as a chrysalis is changed into a butterfly, and as a cater- 
pillar is changed into a chrysalis. What gates are these? 
The gate of life and the gate of death. God arranges our 
going through these gates for us—the how, the when, the 
where ; and who would not leave it to Him? who would 


100 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


have to fix it for themselves? No; we cheerfully and 
thankfully confide it to infinite wisdom and kindness: 
they have tenderly brought us through the one; they wil 
as tenderly bring us through the other. 

Secondly, there are three gates through which we should 
escape, as Lot and his wife and daughters did through the 
gate of Sodom. 

The gate of Sodom through which it was possible to 
escape, was apparently the sole good thing about it. Now, 
as we are “by nature children of wrath,” we are born into 
the kingdom of sin and Satan and the world, a kingdom 
in rebellion against God, a kingdom which hates His holy 
laws and fights against Him, and would, if it could, be 
independent of Him. To remain in this kingdom is to 
remain in corruption and bondage, under God’s frown, 
under condemnation ! 

We must “go through, go through its gates,” as for our 
lives ; through the gate which is opened to us out of si, 
so that we shall not continue in the enjoyment, excuse, 
and indulgence of it; through the gate which is opened to 
us out of the power of Satan, so that we shall not for the~ 
future be his slaves, compelled to do what he bids us, and 
yet hating ourselves for doing it; through the gate which 
is to open to_us out of the allurements oy the ‘world, ' so that ~ 
it shall not bewilder and drug™us” with its sweets, as the 
poisonous flower does the flies which settle on it. 

Oh, we must “go through, go through these gates,” or 
perish. 

Thirdly, there are three gates which we should strive to 
enter. 

Escaped from the kingdom of sin and Satan and the 
world, whither are we to fly? Is there no other kingdom 
in which we may find refuge? Indeed, there is; a happy, 
peaceful, glorious kingdcm ; “the kingdom of God’s dear 
Son” (Col. i. 13). It is the nursery of the “inheritance 
of the saints in light.” And the appointed gates into it 
are repentance, faith, obedience. These have to be gone 
through, however strait and narrow they may be, how- 
ever disagreeable to these proud hearts of ours. But if the 
finest dressed lady in England wishes to get into the Great 
Exhibition, she will have to go through a small door and 
a turn-stile; she can’t sail in in her barouche, or be dropped 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 101 


down in it from a balloon; and if the Emperor himself 
would get into the Mammoth cave in Kentucky, he will 
have to crouch and crawl in like an Indian, for a hundred 
yards. 

Repentance is a /ow gate; sorrow for selfishness and 
coldness towards God, and obstinacy and the angry temper, 
and the lying lips. But Christ requires it of us. We feel 
that it is proper and necessary. And when we have gone 
through that gate, what joy springs of our tears ! 

Faith is a dzfficult gate; to renounce utterly our hope 
of delivering ourselves from God’s justice, and intrust our 
case to Him who says, “I will give you rest.” Yes, it is 
hard to believe that God’s favour is a free gift; that no 
money or price can obtain it; that it is to be had simply 
for “His name’s sake.” But without this faith in His 
finished redemption, we have yet to go through the prin- 
cipal gate into the kingdom of God. 

Obedience is a paznful gate ; painful to flesh and blood. 
For they demand to be consulted, and they cannot bear 
being mortified. But God’s precepts are plain, and written 
down for us, and “they are not grievous.” Soon we 
perceive that they are full of gentleness and reward, and 
intended to promote our welfare. As we form the habit of 
obedience, its yoke is easy ; and instead of toiling under it 
as the ox does under his load, we glide through it as a 
laden sloop glides down the river with a fair wind and 
tide. 

Shall we not seek to “go through, go through” these 
blessed “ gates” ? ; 

Lastly, there are two gates which shut us in for Eternity! 

This is an awful thought. Once go through them and 
we are shut in irrevocably. No skill, no perseverance, no 
pleading will unfold them! They resemble those iron 
gates which we have in London. They will let you in, 
but not out; you may push and rush at them as you will. 
They let you in as softly as a mother’s arms, they resist 
your exit as a wall of adamant would. 

There is the gate of Hell. You can go through it with- 
out trouble. Stop your ears to our warnings, listen to the 
devil’s whispering, yield to temptations, and you will go 
through it as readily as a straw goes into a whirlpool, or a 
feather into a lion’s den. But be sure of this, that having 


102 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


gone through it, it closes upon you! You will go through 
it no more! Your portion and society thenceforth are 
whatever lies within it. 

But there is the gate of heaven! My young friends, I 
beseech you, set your faces as flints towards this gate. 
Jesus is the “way” to it. Embrace Him, and cleave to 
Him, and without doubt you shall go through it. Within 
it is Jesus Himself, waiting to receive you. Within it are 
the precious relatives who died in Jesus, and whose en- 
treaties that you would meet them were sealed with their 
parting kiss. Within are the spirits of the just, from Abel 
to Martha and Mary. Within it are fountains of living 
waters. Within it are crowns, and harps, and white robes. 
Within it you are beyond the reach of sighs and suffering 
and fears. No medicines, no weary watchings, no tolling 
bells, no separations, no graves there! These are “ with- 
out” that gate, with “dogs, and sorcerers, and idolators” 
(Rev. xxii. 15). The pearly gates which exclude these from 
it for ever, will encircle you for ever in all this bliss. 

Thrice welcome hour which shall bear us the summons, 
“Go through, go through the gates, into the joy of thy 
Lord !” 

J. B. 


XXXII. The Fading Leaf. Isa. lxiv. 6. “We ail do 
fade asa leaf: and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken 
us away.” 


You have all been familiar, in the autumn months, with the 
leaves gradually losing their fresh green, becoming yellow 
with spots of decay, and at last falling! lying for a little at 
the foot of the tree, then whirled away, leaving the leafless 
branches gaunt and bare against the grey sky. 

We are like those leaves, and sin has made us so. The 
text tells us three things about sin. 

I. Sz as deadly. —It is not, “We shall ‘de as a leaf,” 
but “we fade.” The fading is a present thing. Of course 
it is true that on some future day, near or far off, we shall 
die and be buried; but this is a present thing! “In che 
day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” When 
you sin, you are killing yourself; sin is suicide: “He that 
sinneth against Me wrongeth his own soul.” When- 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 103 


ever you commit asin you separate yourself further and 
further from the Great Fountain of Life. When you sin 
you wrong God, you wrong your friends,—but you &ddl 
your own soul. Holiness is life and peace; sin is death. 

II. Szx zs hateful—tThe fading yellow of the leaves did 
not seem to the prophet to be beautiful, but hateful, hide- 
ous, so he took them as a type of sin. Now, sin is a thing 
that mars beauty, just as some loathsome disease might. 
Perhaps you have seen some one all marked and scarred 
who was once beautiful, but never can be so again. That 
is what sin makes of us. Of some sins you can see 
the outward traces. Temper wrinkles the face, and makes 
it unlovely. Drunkenness leaves foul and unmistakable 
marks, But we have very dim eyes, and are apt to deceive 
ourselves, and often what is loathsome in God’s sight looks 
well enough in ours. Only remember He is never deceived, 
and to Him there is just one ugly thing in the world, and 
that is sin! just one beautiful thing, and that is goodness. 

III. Szz zs strong.—lIt is like the wind which sweeps 
the leaves away. And we are like the leaves—very weak 
before the wind. You know how one sin brings another. 
If you speak an angry word, and a quarrel begins, you 
go on from bad words to worse, and perhaps say and do 
things you will repent all your life. You never meant it. 
No! but your iniquities, like the wind, carried you away ; 
Peter denied Christ once, then twice, then a third time. 
He was taken away by his iniquity. You tell one lie, and 
then another to hide it, and another and another, till you 
wonder how you could be so base. Sin is strong! and it 
has, like the wind, taken you away. 

This is a dark picture. But Jesus Christ throws a bright 
light on it. Hedied for the faded leaves, that they might 
become green again. And He is the living Vine, and the 
leaves in that strong tree are safe, however the winds may 
sweep, Dear children, are you trusting Him! His blood 
washes away the stain, and His strength keeps us; and if 
we are in Him, death is not death any more, but the 
entrance into life. ‘“ There is but a step between me and 
death,” said an old minister, “and that step is the Lord 
Jesus Christ.” 

W. RN. 


104 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


XXXIII. A Bunch of Grapes. Isa. Ixv. 8. “ Destroy 
it not ; for a blessing is in it.” 


THIs is said of a bunch of grapes. What a beautiful, yet 
what a fragile thing it is! How easily it is “destroyed”! 
For instance, wild animals might destroy it. “Take us the 
foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines;” or thieves, 
in clambering over the walls on which they grow, might 
tear and crush them ; or boys might throw stones at them 
in pure mischief when they were out of reach. Hence 
vineyards are fenced in and watched, and traps are set, 
and trespassers are warned off. It is to prevent their 
being “ destroyed.” 

And why not destroy them? Because “a blessing” is 
in them. Frail as they are, there is that in them which 
should make them precious in our eyes. 

Here we have four lessons taught us by a bunch of 
grapes. 

I. That great good may be stored in little things. 

II. That God alone puts it into them. 

III. That they should be spared for this though they are 
little. 

IV. That if it is lacking in them, they will be undone 
for ever. 

I. We learn from our text that great good may be stored 
in little things. A bunch of grapes is a little thing, and 
yet there is a “blessing” in it. Its juice is most cheering. 
What would people do in hot countries without it? A 
bee is a little thing, and yet we owe the delicious honey, 
with its curious honeycomb, to it. An egg is a little 
thing; but there is meat enough packed up in it to save 
your life for days. An acorn is a little thing, and yet 
there lies in it the future giant oak. 

The infant Moses, and the boy Joseph, and the lad 
David, and the Hebrew maid, were little in comparison 
with the princes and captains of their age; but what 
mighty good was stored in them! The Holy Babe, wrapt 
in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger at Bethlehem, 
was little; but in Him was the light which lighteth every 
man that cometh into the world. And what a blessing 
has flowed out of little books, little tracts, little hymns, 
little prayers, little words of reproof or encouragement 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 108 


spoken in season! A child may be a missionary to the 
ignorant children in her or his neighbourhood, a ministre 
to a careless father or mother, a model to sisters or 
brothers. With a heart given to Jesus, a child is a sun 
which cannot but shine, a fountain which cannot but send 
out streams, a flower which cannot but fill the air with 
sweetness. 

That is the best of blessings. A heart in which Christ 
reigns, in which His Spirit dwells, which wears His image 
and is zealous for His kingdom, such a heart is richer than 
the “cluster with new wine” in it. It has in it the new 
wine of God’s grace. 

II. God alone puts the blessing into little things. 

We should remember this lest we be proud and self- 
conceited. 

Does a watch insert its own wheels and chains? Does 
a piano contrive its own keys and strings? And who but 
God imparts to the medicinal herbs their virtue to heal 
our diseases, or to the grain of wheat its power to throw 
up the tall stalk with the golden ear on it? 

And who but God can break our hard hearts and ex- 
change them for hearts of flesh—pure and tender and 
lowly hearts? 

Herein He displays His wisdom. Who but an all-wise 
God could fill little things, “earthen vessels,’ with the 
excellent treasure, and glorify Himself out of the mouths 
of sucklings? We must have large things to work with; 
God works with coral insects, and drops cf rain, and grains 
of sand. 

Herein also He displays His omnipotence. He en- 
shrines a jewel in what is weak and exposed, and yet 
shields it. The Queen’s regalia in the Tower has to be 
guarded by iron bars and soldiers. But God entrusts that 
priceless thing, a soul, to you ; and then, if He so pleases, 
the invisible angels protect it—it is secure against the 
“gates of hell.” 

Herein He displays His condescension and compassion. 
Is it not marvellous that He should deign to use worms 
of the dust in His service? This is His delight. He 
passes by the tempest, and waters the fields and gardens 
with the imperceptible dew. He chooses the humbiest 
instruments. 


» 106 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


And so, though but a child, He will stoop to you and 
due you with heavenly gifts, as He did Samuel, and 
Solomon, and Josiah, and Timothy; and cause you to be 
a fruitful bough, it may be in exceedingly dry places. 

III. Little things are to be spared for this blessing in 
them. “Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it.” We have 
seen that the blessing in the cluster is the new wine. Not 
that vile, adulterated stuff, half water, half fire, which can 
be bought in England; not that “rare old wine,” which 
people buy at a guinea a bottle, to redden their noses 
with ; but the new wine as God created it, straight from 
the berry. Destroy not the cluster for that blessing’s sake. 

Everything, however little, which has a blessing in it 
should be spared. Therefore we cry out against the 
wanton destruction of robins’ and linnets’ and larks’ nests. 
What glad songs for wintry mornings are suddenly 
quenched when they are torn to pieces. 

The Lord Himself would not even have the broken 
bread and meat after dinner wasted, because a blessing was 
in it. “Gather up the fragments,” He said. 

How frequently God has spared offending cities and 
families because a blessing was in them! He would have 
spared Sodom itself if there had been but ten righteous 
in it. 

Are there not plenty of little things which you are apt 
to despise because they are little? There are your vows 
and resolutions. You formed them when you were in 
trouble or under impression. Don’t let them seem trifles 
to you now. 

There are your habits. These are invaluable—habits 
of obedience, truthfulness, diligence, self-denial. 

There is your character. Your fair fame once sullied or 
suspected becomes like a negro’s skin; it is black and you 
cannot soap and wash it off. 

And there is your interest in the poor heathen. What 
a blessing there is in that, both for yourself and for them! 
Destroy it not by coldness or forgetfulness ; but fan it to a 
brighter flame, until you are aglow with it from head to 
foot. 

IV. If the blessing is lacking in them, they will be un- 
done for ever. “ Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it” ; as 
if it were said, # there were no blessing in it, then it might 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 107 


be destroyed. Who begs mercy for a parcel of ‘nettles, 
which do nothing but sting? Who begs mercy for wasps 
and hornets? No; we say there is no blessing in them, 
let them be swept away. This is pictured forth to us in 
the withering of the fig-tree by the roadside. It was 
cursed because it was barren. 

Saul had no blessing in him, Judas had none, and they 
were destroyed. It was the blessing in them which pre- 
served Lot and Peter, although they yielded to temptation. 

If there is no blessing in us, we are doomed. The 
unprofitable servant hid his talent in the napkin; but he 
could not hide himself from his master’s indignation. God 
plants us in His heritage, He digs about us, He trains 
and defends us. If, notwithstanding this culture, we are 
conscious of no active blessing in us, no gratitude to Him, 
no desire to do His will, no sorrow that we have grieved 
Him, no yearnings towards Him who shed His blood for 
us on Calvary, what can we expect? What can be before 
us but the axe and the terrible order “Cut it down, why 
cumbereth it the ground?” 

Implore God for this blessing. Plead for it for Himself, 
that you may be a noble cluster to His praise. For those 
around you, that they may partake of your happiness, feel 
your influence, and thank God for you. And for yourself, 
that instead of awaiting the wrath of God, you may be 
assured of His favour, and filled with joy and peace. May 
we all have such a blessing in us, and then we shall have 
no fear of the sentence, “ Destroy it.” God Himself will 
say, as of the new wine in the cluster, “ Destroy it not, 
for a blessing is in it.” And who shall destroy what He 
champions ? pe. 


XXXIV. Bad Habits. Jer. xiii. 13. ‘* Accustomed to do 
evil.” 


I. Bad habits and how they are formed—Some things are 
natural to us. We never needed to learn them. We are 
made with them, eg. breathing, moving, crying, eating, 
drinking. But there are some things which seem as 
natural as these, which we can as little help doing. Once 
we could not dothem. They were painful to do at first, 


108 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


but by doing them over and over again we got into the 
way of doing them, and they are now habits. For a habit 
is just something we have got accustomed to do. We 
are made up of Aadits. Almost anything may be made a 
habit if it is just done often enough or long enough. Bad 
habits are generally most easy to be got at because we 
have a bad heart to begin with, but some are painful and 
unpleasant to acquire. Almost all our habits are acquired 
in youth, and when we become men and women it is hardly 
possible to get quit of them. The great inducement to 
what is evil is that it is “just for once.” Doing a thing 
once does not make a habit. “One swallow does not 
make a summer,” but it is on the way to it. And doing 
a thing once makes it easy to do it again and again, till it 
becomes a habit. 

Take a few specimens of bad habits :— 

(1) In the matter of veading.—Well-trained children know 
how to discriminate between what is good and bad reading. 
A book was sent by the author to a friend. The next 
time they met he asked if he had read it. He replied, 
“No, it is a bad book.” “How do you know, if you have 
not read it?” “We do not need to eat all the meat at 
table to know whether it is good or bad, if we find one bite 
tainted we order it away.” We should so deal with bad 
books. Reading sensational novels keeps many from being 
saved. 

(2) In the matter of speaking —Slang words; coarse and 
low expressions; vulgarity; half untruths; half oaths ; 
disrespectful words to parents, teachers, masters, or mis- 
tresses ; things we think smart or witty ; speaking against, 
or telling tales about people—all these become habits. 
Then there is the habit of exaggeration, making every- 
thing appear greater than it really is, which makes young 
people grow up liars. 

(3) In the matter of food—We should not live to eat, 
for that puts us on a level with the beasts. Then there is 
over indulgence in sweetmeats, and learning to smoke and 
drink wine and other intoxicating drinks. These are all 
bad habits. 

(4) Carelessness and slovenliness.—Untidiness in dress, 
awkwardness in manner at table, etc.; doing things in a 
wrong or defective way to save trouble and effort ; doing 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 109 


things with the left hand that should be done with the 
right; want of steadiness in keeping at anything. 

(5) Procrastination.—Putting off till to-morrow what 
ought to be done to-day. [eing late for school, church, 
etc. These bad habits have a bearing on higher things, 
for there is a tendency to put off the soul’s salvation. 

II. Zhe power these habits get over us, and the difficulty 
of their cure—They hold us in their grasp. You have 
seen ivy clinging to an old wall; if you try to take it away 
the wall comes with it. Or you have seen a little boy on 
a horse; he has such a control over it with the bridle that 
he can make it go where he likes. These are pictures of 
our habits. One of our Edinburgh ministers was in Africa, 
and a little negro boy, who had never seen a white man 
before, put his fingers to his lips and began to rub his 
hand, expecting the white to come off. God says if you 
can make a black man white, or get the spots off a leopard, 
then you who have been in the habit of doing what is bad 
may be brought to do what is good. A man was once 
walking along the shore when his foot was caught in a link 
of achain. Hecould not pull it out. He called for help, 
but it was unavailing, and the sea came in and he was 
drowned. That is what bad habits may do. They hold 
you fast, and unless there is help from God there will be 
death at the end. 

Ill. Zhe possibility of their cure.—In order to the cure 
of bad habits there must be: 

(1) A new heart. 

(2) Earnest prayer. 

(3) Constant watchfulness ; and, 

(4) Resolute and self-denying effort. 

J. H. W. 


XXXV. Pride. Jer. xiii. 15. “ Be not proud.” 


AN old grandfather once quoted this short text at the family 
breakfast table. All present said that they had never 
heard it before, and they did not believe that it was in the 
Bible. He declared that it was, and he gave them a week 
to find it in, and promised the finder half a sovereign. But 
at the end of the week nobody claimed the ten shillings. 
They had ransacked both Testaments in vain, and the 


1r0 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


old grandfather had to show it them. And so, many a 
precious gem lies hid in this vast mine till a light is struck 
over it, and lo! it glitters. 

These words teach a very complete and very important 
life lesson to us all. We all of us know what pride is. We 
feel it in ourselves. We are quick to observe it in others. 
It is one of those hateful little snakes which crept out of 
the serpent’s mouth when he said to Eve, “ Eat of the tree, 
and ye shall be as gods,” and unfortunately Eve let it creep 
into her heart through her ear, and ever since it has been 
born in all her posterity. It is exceedingly deceitful, so 
that it escapes punishment often by passing itself off for 
what is excellent It changes its colour as the chameleon 
does—amongst the grass it will be green, in the sun it will 
be golden, in the flower-bed it will be pink; and yet its 
true colour is black, for always and everywhere it is sin. 
The worst charge that we have to bring against it is enmity 
to God, setting up idols where He alone should reign, and 
breeding in us envies strifes, malice, things worthy of 
death. 

Its varieties are endless—let us think of four of the chief. 

I. There is vace pride—pride in our ancestors. It is a 
blessed thing to have pious parents, it is certainly an honour 
to have progenitors who have distinguished themselves. 
But what is there to boast of? Did we help to make them 
what they were? and are we doing as they did? Is not 
the recollection of them enough to humble us, because of 
our shortcomings? As for pride in descent from those who 
were rich or titled, and yet did not serve God, if we could 
have a glimpse of them now as they are now, mayhap we 
should never again refer to them. The Jews were race 
proud. “We have Abraham to our father.” 

But God heaps contempt on their pride! “God is able of 
these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” 

II. There is face pride—pride in one’s outward appear- 
ance. Lovely or manly features are not to be despised. 
They are said to bea “fortune” in themselves. It is as- 
tonishing how much favour they obtain, how many bolted 
doors they open, how much ice they melt. A handsome 
child will be sure to learn that itis handsome! and then is 
pride’s opportunity. It feeds and fans the spark till it is a 
flame, and the flame till it is a consuming fire. And then 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 11! 


beauty is no longer beauty—we associate it with mirrors, 
coxcombry, self-worship, self-conceit, and prefer the plainest 
countenance which has the ornament of a meek and quiet 
spirit. You cannot prevent the report of your mirror or 
the remarks of foolish visitors, but you can prevent these 
from being nourished and cherished by brooding over them. 
David was “ruddy and fair” but he reckoned it as nothing 
compared with right doing. Absalom cared nothing for 
right-doing, but everything for his long beautiful hair—yet 
his hair proved to be a halter to hang him! 

Beware, lest some fondly doted on prettiness of yours 
proves a snare to you. 

III. There is lace pride—pride in your position in 
society. 

You may live in a fine house, and flatter yourself that 
you are better than those who live in cottages. You may 
live in town and flatter yourself that you are better than 
those who live in the country. You may have talents upon 
which you gallop into popularity,and you may flatter your- 
self that you are better than your jogtrot neighbours. 

But do any of these things render you actually better ? 
that is wiser, holier, nobler? From whom did you receive 
them? And if you received them “without money and 
without price” from God, why should you be haughty about 
them? 

IV. There is grace pride—pride in godliness. 

This is the worst sort of pride, and it is the most subtle 
and difficult to root out. It is more an evil odour or a 
poisonous insect which hovers around the buds and blos- 
soms of our piety than a bud or blossom itself. 

But it cannot be denied that there is such a thing, and 
that it mingles occasionally with our prayers and praises, 
our charities, and even with our repentances and tears. We 
are puffed up! we congratulate ourselves, we weigh our 
devotions, or services, or emotions in the sanctuary balance, 
and then, when we ascertain that they are satisfactory, we 
offer incense to self instead of to God. 

We have to be on our guard here, or grace pride will cor- 
rupt all our grace, as a drop of vinegar will corrupt a pan 
of milk, or a spoonful of yeast a trough of dough. Its mere 
breath upon anything infects it. “Be not proud,” for we 
have nothing to be proud of. Weare poor, weak, dependent 


r12 SERMONS TO CHILDREN, 


on 


creatures. If, like the vine, we have ripening clusters on 
us, it is because the heavenly Husbandman has planted, and 
trained, and watered us. And if, like the barren fig-tree 
which our Lord sought fruit on, we have only leaves, then, 
instead of being proud, we ou:ht to be sitting in sackcloth 
and ashes. 

“Be not proud” because it is abhorrent to God. 

Do you desire His presence and approval and blessing ? 
You cannot have it if you indulge pride. “The proud 
He knoweth afar off.’ ‘God resisteth the proud.” It is 
so wicked in His sight. Debtors to Him for each beat of 
their pulses—proud ! 

“ Be not proud ” because it is so unlike Christ. 

He is our model, and where was pride in Him? Hehad 
none of it. He knew everything, and possessed everything, 
and could do everything; but He laid all His honours at 
His Father’s feet ; He chose fishermen for His companions, 
and welcomed babes to His arms, and condescended to 
men of low estate. 

He requires that His disciples now be as He was in the 
world. You cannot be Christlike if you are proud. What! 
Proud, and yet like Him who bore the bason and towel 
round that supper chamber! and who yielded Himself to 
spitting and scourging and crucifixion for guilty sinners! 

“Be not proud,” because it is ruinous. “Pride goeth 
before destruction.” It is like leprosy, which, though a 
mere spot at first, at last spreads over the entire body. 
Pride is a crime as well asa malady. God is angry with 
it and must punish it; it will bring on us that terrific 
sentence “ Depart ye cursed.” 

Some children are very proud. He who loves them, 
and seeks their eternal welfare and who never commands 
without a purpose, says to them “Be not proud.” Ifstrong 
in their self-will, they say, ‘‘ Nay, but it is nice, and we will 
be.” Then let us cry for them, “Father, forgive them.” 

Some children are proud occasionally. They have fits 
of it, and then they will be again modest and humble. We 
should watch against those sudden outbreaks. They, too, 
defile and damage us, as Moses and Hezekiah and Peter 
ail discovered to their cost. 

Some children are bravely struggling with pride to sub- 
due it; God prosper them! Naturally it is powerful in 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 113 


them, but they perceive its loathsomeness, and are deter- 
mined that it shall not have the mastery. They are check- 
ing and starving it. They long to be conformed to Jesus. 
Such children are to be envied. The kingdom is theirs 
and they are apparelled for it already. 

J. B. 


XXXVI. The Storms of Life. Naunum i. 3. “ Zhe 
Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and 
the clouds are the dust of His feet.” 


You know, my young friends, that when our Lord was 
teaching on earth, He would often point to the things 
around Him—to the birds, flowers, or flocks—to everything 
the people could see, and tell them there was some lesson 
they could learn from them. I suppose when we hear a 
storm, and think of it at sea, our first thought is, “Why are 
there such things as storms?” We do not feel it so much 
in the middle of the city ; but out on the sea, there the 
storm is a terrible thing, and men may well ask, “Is there 
anything that a storm can teach us.” 

This is what the storm can tell us, what the prophet 
told the people hundreds and hundreds years ago—that 
the Lord has His way in the storm as well as in the peace- 
ful summer. Storm and tempest fulfil His work. 

What is a storm? There is nothing new in a storm. 
The winds were there before—but now the winds come 
sweeping in one way. They can thus destroy noble and 
mighty vessels, and tear up majestic trees; and all through 
the Bible a storm is compared to something that happens 
to us in life, and there is One who is called our Refuge from 
the storm. What do we mean by a storm in life? Just 
as all these winds sweeping in one direction cause a storm, 
so a storm in life is not one little temptation or anxiety, 
but it is when the troubles come on thick and the difficulties 
and temptations come on in crowds. Look at Job—one 
sorrow and then another, then one trial and then another. 
And then he bowed down to the very earth till the storm 
had swept over him. That is what we mean by a storm 
in life. I suppose, boys and girls, you think there is no 

I 


114 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


such thing, for you are in safety. In bed this morning you 
did not think much of danger, for the storm was without 
and you were within. But the day will come when you 
will have to go out. You are like a ship that will have to 
face the tempest. In the dock it is in safety, and for 
months and months it goes on building, and adding on 
planks and riveting them together so that the water shall 
not get between them. And then the machinery and 
fittings are added, and it all goes on and there is no danger. 
Then the ship goes out into the harbour, and then upon 
the water to see whether she is watertight. Only after 
all that she goes out and is able to defy the tempests and 
storms. 

And this is the way, my dear little friends, that you are 
being built up by parents and those who have the care 
of you, or pastors whom God has sent—all are trying to 
join your life together and make you strong; but the day 
must come when you will have to go out and face the 
storm. 

Oh, that you could remember this—all the loving hands 
that now surround you must loose their grasp. You leave 
the nursery, and the whirlwind will try you. Oh, if you 
think there is little danger of your life being swamped, 
take care. You have seen a harbour perhaps. Down at 
Dover, or wherever it may be, there is the harbour—a great 
arm, as if the land held out its arm and said, “I will direct 
you.” The small boats even lie there safe, for they are 
within that mighty arm. 

That is how most of you are now waiting to go on the 
voyage of life, and there is the strong arm of a father’s or 
mother’s love carrying you safely across those temptations, 
but the day must come when you must go alone. 

There are two things that you will need then—you do 
not need them so much now. First, you must be strong- 
made, that is, your character must be, as it were, drawn all 
together—not going one way and then another as chance 
may direct. You must feel, “Here I am, God has sent me 
into life as if there were no other, I am not to be drawn to 
the right or left owing to the choice of others. Soon I 
must go into the storm and rely upon God.” 

Do not neglect this while your character is being built 
One ship looks as good as another, but the storm tries 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 115 


them. If you walk across the park this afternoon, the 
trees all look the same. They all look the same in the 
sunshine; but when the storm bursts, and rushes through 
the branches, then you know what branches and trees are 
sound and what are not. 

So it will be with you when you pass through the storm 
of life. 

Another thing you must have. Not only are you to be 
built in devotion and love and grace and truth and purity, 
but you must have One to steer you on the course. Re- 
member a ship is no good if it stops still—it must go from 
one place to another. Your voyage is from this world to 
Heaven ; and so you must be strong, otherwise any little 
turning to the right or to the left, any little untruth, 
any little falseness, any little impurity may be dangerous. 
Always it should be, “I am making for that point ; and 
there is One abroad whom I can trust. He knows the 
way.” 

You know who will steer you. Your Master is Jesus, 
and the Bible is your guide. 

Remember, many a ship has been well-built, and steered 
well for a time, and then there came some storm. Some 
tremendous sorrow comes upon you, and the greatest 
sorrow that can come upon a father or mother is, that one 
of their children should grow bad and become a wander- 
ing sheep. Think always of that; the greatest sorrow 
that can be brought upon your father or mother, is the 
sorrow that you can bring upon them. There are great 
griefs and great trials against which no vessel seems strong 
enough, but even then there is One who is a refuge against 
the worst storms of life. 

A ship was coming across the Atlantic, but a terrible 
storm came on as they neared the English coast. And as 
day after day passed, and the storm still raged, the captain 
said, “ All hope is over.” And those on board looked with 
white and fearful faces at one another, and one man cried, 
“T see the coast ;” and then there came a wild shout from 
another, “I see the lifeboat!” And, bounding like a 
living saviour over the livid waves, came the life-boat, and 
the crew were rescued and the brave men saved. 

And so in the worst storm of life, when your whole frame 
and faith seem broken by the tempest, there is the hope of 


556 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


rescue by Jesus Christ, who is the same to-day, yesterday 
and for ever, 
.T.8& 


XXXVII. The Centurion. Marr. viii. 5-14. 


ON which side of the garden wall, children, would you 
expect to get the finest fruit—on the inside, where the 
gardener has carefully tended the fruit, or on the other 
side, where the seed has accidentally dropped and grown 
up by itself? On the inside, would not you say? And if 
yeu found on the other side more order and better fruit 
than inside, you would be very much astonished. So was 
Jesus when He found this heathen man with such a 
beautiful trust and character as He had not met with 
among His own people—the sons of Abraham. The Old 
Testament tells us that the people of Israel were set in the 
earth like a vineyard, of which God took great care, and 
whom He made as good as He could by sending His own 
servants to them; but instead of bringing forth fruit, as He 
might have expected, Jesus found a people full of sin, who 
would not accept Him, who persecuted Him, and who 
at last were so angry with Him, that they put Him to 
death. 

When you go home this afternoon, children, it will do 
you good if you will try to find out how many heathen 
people in the New Testament were praised for their faith. 
This man was a Roman soldier, and you might find 
how many heathen soldiers were mentioned in the New 
Testament, as being useful and good men, who were near 
the Kingdom of Heaven before they got into it. You will 
find a good deal of instruction in this. This man was a 
soldier,a Roman soldier—that is a soldier in the Roman 
army. All that he said to Jesus was suggested to him by 
his experience as a soldier. Everything in military work 
depends upon discipline and unquestioning obedience, 
upon the strict carrying out of orders whether the eye of 
the commander is upon the soldier or not. He is no use 
in an army who will only do his duty when he is watched 
by his superior officer, and who cannot be trusted to carry 
out his orders when nobody is watching him. This cen- 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. A? 


turion knew this. He knew that the word of authority 
carried power with it, and brought about what was needed 
in absence as well as in presence; and so when Jesus said 
He would go to the centurion’s house and cure the boy, he 
said, “There is no need for that, for you can give com- 
mand to disease as I command my men. You need only 
speak the word, and the disease will obey you.” 

And so it was. Jesus could utter the word, and the word 
could fulfil itself though He were not there. Do you not see 
how this centurion, being a soldier, and being accustomed 
to strict discipline in the army, enabled him to understand 
the position of Jesus with relation to the unseen world ? 
He understood Jesus Christ’s control over the forces of 
nature better than the Jews did; so that our Lord said, 
“ This man has grasped the proper idea of My place and 
power better than any Jew whom I have met.” 

Let us, children, try to understand this view of the Roman 
centurion with regard to Jesus and His power. If our 
Lord’s word were only effective in His presence it would 
be a bad thing for us, for we have not His presence. 
Whatever the emperor of this centurion commanded had 
to be done, though the emperor himself were far away. 
Jesus Christ is our Emperor; and though He is far from 
us—farther than this man’s emperor was—He yet rules 
upon the earth. The word emperor is taken from im- 
perator, which is a word of command. It signified the 
head man over the people. Jesus Christ is Imperator 
and Commander. The forces of nature are His soldiers, 
and He sways all hearts. And when we ask Him to bless 
and pardon us, let us remember that He is our Emperor, 
and that His word runneth very swiftly, and fulfils itself in 
Heaven and in earth, 

J. O. D. 


XXXVIII. Hospital Sunday. Mart. ix. 12,13. “JZ 
came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. 
They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” 


Now, I do not know whether it has ever struck you, but 
it has often perplexed my mind to think what a number 
of ills and aches and pains and troubles there are in this 


118 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


world of ours and amongst our human kind. I daresay a 
good many of you young people have already, young as 
you are, had your share of pain and suffering. 

I daresay some of you boys and girls have had measles 
and whooping-cough, and a lot of those other juvenile 
ailments; perhaps scarlet fever or small-pox. And I 
daresay some of the older people here have had their share 
of rheumatism, and heart disease, and various other weak- 
nesses to which they tell us our flesh is heir. 

Now, what a blessing it is to think that while there is 
such an amount of suffering, and so much pain, that comes, 
somehow or other, to most of us; and comes more or less 
to all—what a blessing it is that there are so many means 
of relieving distress and pain and suffering. Why, we 
have our doctors, trained nurses, dispensaries, infirmaries, 
hospitals, where the very best skill and kindest nursing 
that are to be found in the land are at the service of 
the poor, and those who can provide least for themselves. 
And I do not know any Sunday that ought more to draw 
out the sympathy and the kindness of a human heart ora 
community, than the Sunday when Christians, young and 
old, are called upon to give their small contribution to the 
maintenance of those noble hospitals that are doing so 
much good amongst the poor and suffering in this great 
city and throughout our land. 

Now, when we think of the very great number of ail- 
ments that there are, and when we think that by any one or 
other of these, or by accident, by a broken limb, by a fall or 
a bruise, any one of us may die, it is enough to make us 
really afraid to look at that great list, and think that each 
one which attacks us is taking out a pin of this earthly 
tabernacle, and helping to bring down to the ground this 
house of clay in which each one of us lodges and accom- 
modates an immortal spirit. But then this very spirit 
itself, that has its lodgment in this tabernacle of clay, of 
human flesh, is subject to a terrible ailment, an ailment 
that is universal, that nobody escapes ; the queen on the 
throne suffers from it, the meanest beggar on the high- 
way has it; a boy that is playing at school, or a little girl 
lying on a sick bed at the hospital, all of us here, I in 
the pulpit and you in the pews, are infected by this terrible 
disease. 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 11g 
I wonder if one boy or girl here will speak up and teli 
me the disease in one word. (‘Szw.”) Sin! Of course. 
That is the disease from which we all suffer, and it is a 
terrible disease, for in a certain sense there is no cure for it. 
It is one of the saddest things which I have to see in my 
visiting at sick beds, to see one of the very worst diseases 
that can come to a human body, and that is a cancer. For 
it there is no cure when it gets beyond a certain stage, and 
the poor sufferer can only suffer more intensely day by 
day, with the dark and lonesome grave as the only pros- 
pect of relief. 

Well, but here is sin, born with us, strengthening with 
our strength, growing with our growth, unless we take the 
one and only means which is provided to counteract sin. 
We cannot get rid of it except in a certain way, and unless 
we adopt that remedy it will bring us at last to death. 
It is spoken of in Scripture as a leprosy, as a wound, 
as bruises, as putrefying sores, as death. “You hath he 
quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sins,” says 
the Apostle Paul. 

Now, I have told you about sin and about everybody in 
the world having it, whether old or young, strong or weak, 
active or feeble ; whether we have the flush of life that 
lightens up so glowingly some of your cheeks, or whether 
we are pale and worn; it is a disease we all have and one 
for which there is only one remedy provided in all God’s 
word, the only remedy against sin. I wonder if, in a word, 
any of you can give me its Name. (“/esus.”) Yes! 
That is the only Remedy ; sin is the disease, Jesus is the 
Remedy. Now, just for a little while I am going to speak 
about Jesus as the one and only Remedy ; as able to save 
the very worst cases, that is my second point; and the 
third one is, He gives His services without money and 
without price ; and, last of all, He is waiting to save and 
to heal the children. 

First, then, I am going to speak of Jesus as the one and 
only Remedy. Now there are a great many symptoms of 
this terrible disease of sin, and I would like very much to ask 
you of the names of some of them. Why, the symptoms 
are legion, they are manifold ; any little boy or girl who is 
cross and angry, unkind or disobedient to parents, or to 
brothers and sisters or playmates, is showing the symptoms 


120 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


of sin. A boy who swears or uses bad language; a girl 
who speaks lies ; all who are dishonest, who are in any way 
regardless of God and the things of God, they are all 
showing the symptoms of the foul disease of sin. We see 
the symptoms on the street, in men and women rolling 
along the worse for drink; in the Police Court, in the 
crime that comes there, and in the crime that shows itself 
throughout the world in a thousand ways. 

It is a disease that has its stronghold in the human 
heart, and all the while is infecting and spreading itself 
over all the elements of human activity; sin is in many 
creatures, and there is one remedy against it, whether in 
the human heart or in its manifestations in the world. 
Some people think that education will put a stop to it; 
some other people think that if everybody could be 
brought to don the “blue ribbon” it would put a stop to 
it ; some think that if police regulations were strict enough 
it would put a stop to it. But we know that there is only 
one way of getting at the root of this disease ; by dealing 
with it in the heart and conscience, and bringing the per- 
son who is suffering from it to the Lord Jesus, who can 
give pardon and cleansing, and a new heart. Jesus is the 
only One who can take away the heart of stone and give 
us a heart of flesh ; He alone can cleanse us from the stains 
of evil that we have contracted all our lives. 

Now, I have spoken to you about Jesus as the only 
true Remedy for sin; but it is only when we come to trust 
in Him, and get a new heart and a cleansed life, it enables 
us to overcome sin. 

But now I want you to remember that Jesus heals and 
saves in the very worst cases. The most skilful doctor 
is often quite unable to effect a cure in a person who is 
suffering from trouble or disease. I once heard a very 
pretty story from a friend of mine who visited sometimes 
the hospitals. And there, in one of the beds at the hos- 
pital, there was a little boy. He had been brought into 
the city from the country, and his mother had stayed with 
him some little time in order to accustom him to be alone 
in that big place amongst strangers. But now she had 
gone away when my friend visited the hospital. And as 
he came from bed to bed, he came at last to this little boy, 
and he went and made inquiries about his circumstances 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 121 


and found he was suffering from a bad leg; and the 
doctors had given it as their opinion that the leg would 
have to be taken off, as that was the only chance of 
saving his life, and perhaps even that might not be success- 
ful. And so when my friend found out this, he spoke very 
kindly and tenderly to him; told him of the operation 
that must be performed some day soon, and bade him keep 
up a good heart. He said the doctor would be there, and 
he was a kind man; the nurses too would be there; and 
you do not need to be afraid or lonely, because very 
likely it will be the means of saving your life. And when 
my friend had finished speaking, the little boy says: 
“Yes! and let Jesus be there too!” Some few days 
afterwards, when the operation had taken place, he went to 
see him, and came to the crib where the boy had been, 
and found it empty. He looked at the nurse, she shook 
her head. And then he knew well what had happened ; he 
knew that the little boy had gone home! Jesus had been 
there, along with the doctors and the nurses, and He had 
taken the little lamb to His bosom and carried it away 
to a better country, where the inhabitants shall say no 
more: “I am sick,” and the people that dwell therein 
are forgiven their iniquity. Children, what a grand 
thing it will be for you and me to say when we are laid 
on the bed of sickness or death, we can count on Jesus 
being with us, able to keep us, and fold us in His ever- 
lasting arms and bring us to the blessedness of His own 
kingdom. 

So you see, when the early doctor’s skill fails, and he 
can go no further, what a grand thing it is to have the 
Great Physician to heal all the woes of the immortal 
spirit, and bring His people to that land where they will be 
happy in blessedness for ever. 

‘This is all, perhaps, a long way from the point; but 
never mind, it may impress some truth on your hearts, and 
the great truth I want you to realize is this: Jesus is able 
to save to the uttermost all who come to God by Him. It 
does not matter how sinful we have been, if only we come 
to Him for the forgiveness and grace to make us happy in 
His presence. 

And then I said, Jesus gave His services for nothing. He 
gives them without money and without price. Nobody can 


122 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


buy His medicine, anybody that wants it can have it for 
asking. All the wealth of the Indies, all the gold mines 
in the world, can buy not even a little bit of His grace. 
It must come to us freely from God; it cannot be got 
for money. And He gives it without money and without 
price to every little child that comes into His presence 
and asks for pardon. The little child will get all his 
sins forgiven; the little girl that kneels in her room 
and asks Jesus for a new heart, Jesus will surely give 
it to her freely and for nothing. 

We cannot purchase these great gifts of Jesus, but we 
may have them for the taking, and if we take them to 
our hearts it will make us happy, now and eternally. 

But then I said that Jesus is waiting to heal the chil- 
dren. Yes! Jesus was ever the children’s Friend. You 
boys and girls here; your hearts are young now and 
tender, not yet have they grown hard like the stone 
pavement outside there. When you are older they will 
grow harder ; and it is just now, at this time of your life, 
that you may best learn of Jesus, to love Him and give 
yourself to Him, to love and serve Him as your best 
Friend, and then He will make you happy hereafter. 
Don’t imagine that there will be time for you, or that it 
will be better for you, to think about all this when you 
grow up into men and women. You have just as much 
need to be saved as the grown-up people, and you have 
just as much need to be made good and pure and true 
as they have. There is a beautiful hymn which repre- 
sents the Man at the Gate in the Pilgrim’s Progress, re- 
ceiving all sorts of people when they come to enter in 
at the Way of Life. The man says: “I am willing with 
all my heart,” and a little child comes :-— 


“T am only a little child, dear Lord, 
And my feet already are stained with sin, 
But they said He had sent the children word 
To come to the Gate, and enter in. 
And the Man at the Gate looked down and smiled, 
A goodly smile and fair to see ; 
And spoke as He looked at the trembling child, 
*T am willing with all my heart,’ said He.” 


Jesus was the Man at the Gate, and He it was who 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 123 


said: “Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and 
forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.” 
Will you try, dear children, to remember the things we 
have spoken about this afternoon? How sin is the deadly 
ailment that we are all suffering from. How the one and 
only Remedy is Jesus Christ. How Jesus can save the 
very worst cases; and can do His willing work just when 
the doctor's work ends and he can do no more. And 
Jesus gives the healing without money and without price. 
And remember this too, your Friend the Lord Jesus is 
waiting to give His healing touch to the children, to make 
them happy in His love and His salvation. 
T. N. 


XXXIX. Onthe Sea. Mart. xiv. 22-36. 


PROBABLY not all of the boys and girls who have heard me 
read this beautiful section of the Gospel have ever seen the 
great sea. Certainly few or none of you have sailed upon 
it ; and it would be a very difficult thing for some of you 
to imagine or know the beauty and terribleness of the sea. 
In the Book of Job it is said that God alone dwelleth on 
the waves of the sea; that is to say, He who made it has 
all might over its great waters, and even over those un- 
known depths that are beneath its surface. 

And to us men the sea is a thing we have reason to fear, 
because it swallows upin its grave so much of the treasures 
that men possess, its bottom being strewn all over with the 
riches it has stolen from men. And more because it has 
stolen many of the precious lives of men. So that all 
we can do cannot save us from the attacks which the sea 
makes upon us year after year. But let us learn this lesson, 
which Jesus certainly wanted to teach His people—that 
He had power not only over the land but over that great 
and terrible sea. It is His, and as God, He travels over it. 
So that if you behold the sea and you fear it, knowing that 
you cannot battle with the storm, you must try to remem- 
ber, boys and girls, that there is not a billow of the sea 
which is not in His hand—in the hand of Him who is 
your dear Friend and Lord, and to whom you say prayer 
before you lay your head down on the pillow at night. 


124 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


And not one dear precious life will be swept away by the 
sea unless by the will of Him who walked on the waves. 
The sea is an emblem to us of care and trouble from which 
we cannot save ourselves. So that we can learn this 
lesson from it: that Jesus is master of all great troublous 
things. 

He has power over the things of nature and of the 
world, and He uses His power for the good of His friends. 
And ‘this is wonderful too, that He can make His friends 
as strong on the sea as Himself; for it seems to me that 
His making Peter walk over the sea is a more wonderful 
thing than that He, Himself, who is Lord of the sea, 
should walk upon it. 

In all our troubles, therefore, let us remember that the 
secret of safety and deliverance is confidence in Christ; is 
to have our eyes firmly fixed on His strong face and 
firm hand. So long as Peter kept his eye on the great 
calm eye of Jesus, and remembered that His dear Lord 
had all might over the waters, so long was Peter strong, 
and so long he was drawing strength from Jesus. The 
moment he allowed his eyes to drop from Jesus’ eye, and 
looked at the waves, that moment his soul began to quake 
within him, and he began to be weak. 

That is the secret of courage and spiritual strength for 
us. Let it be a lesson for the youngest of us, not to 
fear, and let it be a lesson for the oldest of us, to trust. 
May God add His blessing. 

J. O. D. 


XL. Witnessing Children. Marr. xxi 15. “Ze 
children crying in the temple.” 


THIS is very beautiful. It is one of the most beautiful 
things noticed concerning the great day of Jesus’ entrance 
into Jerusalem. You recollect the story: how the Lord 
sent two of His disciples to the village on the slope of 
Olivet, charging them to bring the ass and the colt, which 
they would find at a particular place; how He seated 
Himself on the ass, and slowly rode towards the holy city, 
followed by an immense crowd of people; how multitudes 
on hearing of His approach, streamed out of Jerusalem, and 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 125 


met Him, and then turning round preceded Him, strewing 
His path with their clothes and with branches; how the 
air was rent with hosannahs which became louder and 
louder as the procession neared the Temple, glittering with 
gold and marble. Indeed a wonderful sight, a wonderful 
hour! All the city is moved. Strangers, of whom theré 
were then tens of thousands, ask, Who is this? Priests 
and scribes do not need to ask; they know that it is Jesus 
of Nazareth; but they’are angry. We can see them, as 
the cavalcade sweeps past into the courts of Jehovah’s 
sanctuary, scoffing, scowling, their brows knit, filled partly 
with fear and partly with fury. But they say nothing 
until—the children cry. The children are waiting for their 
King; and as He enters the Temple, they form in rank 
around Him, shouting in gladsome chorus—a chorus re- 
newed and ever renewed, as the eyes of some one hitherto 
blind are touched, and the blind one sees; or the lame, 
obedient to the Almighty word, starts up to leap and waik. 
Oh yes! they are sore displeased, these bigoted priests 
and scribes; and they force their way to Christ, and with 
ill-concealed sneers, they demand, “ Hearest thou what 
these say?” 

We are going to linger for a little over the picture of the 
children crying inthe Temple. Because it is not only 
affecting, as a feature of Jesus’ triumph; it is the sign of 
something true in all times. Remember were the chil- 
dren were. They were in the Temple. They had their 
place in the house of God. They had a right to be there, 
as well as their parents, for God’s covenant embraced them 
too. They had received the seal of that covenant ; and 
so they had been “planted in the house of the Lord.” 
Now you, young people, are also in God’s Temple. You 
are a part of His congregation. God is your Father. 
Jesus is your Saviour. The Holy Ghost is your Sanctifier. 
You have not been left outside the place of privilege and 
blessing. You have been taken inside. The promise to 
the fathers isa promise to the children also. Therefore 
we think that you should not be left in the cold; that all 
the prayers, and the praises, and the teachings in church 
should not go to the older folk; nor that all the writing 
in magazines meant for religious instruction should be 
addressed to those of riper years, 


126 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


There are three thoughts suggested by the picture now 
before us :— 

I. The children see, whilst others are blind. 

II. The children sing, although others are silent. 

Ill. Zhe children receive the blessing which others lose. 

I. They see what priest and scribe, with all their learn- 
ing, see not—the Son of David. They read in His 
presence and the wonderful things which He does, the title 
and the patents of His royalty. No doubt have these 
sweet children, What prevents the faith of others—pride, 
seeking honour one of another, the evil heart which is the 
seat of unbelief—does not hinder their sight. The eye is 
single, and the whole body is full of light. And so whilst 
many around are in thick darkness, because of the veil 
that is over their face, they have found the great secret, 
“ Hosannah to the Son of David!” 

There is a special fitness between the mind of youth and 
the truth as it isin Jesus. Some people think that you 
should not be taken to church, should not be taught to 
pray, should not be told about God and Jesus and heaven 
until you are older, and thus are more able to understand 
these high and holy things. We do not agree with such. 
We believe that you have a power of seeing these things, 
of feeling these things in their simple force and reality, 
which many older persons do not possess. Their souls are 
heavily freighted with care, “and custom lies upon them 
with a weight heavy as frost, and deep almost as life.” 
None, as I take it, can understand Jesus Christ’s heart 
better than the young. So it was proved in the Temple 
hundreds of years ago; so it has often been proved since. 
The child sees the childlike ; and the heart of Christ is the 
heart of the most childlike. “Learn of me, for I am 
meek and lowly.” Have you seen Him? Others ask, 
Who is He? Have you not got your answer ready ?— 
“Hosannah to the Son of David.” 

II. Then the children sing, although others are silent. 
There is something, you know, very discouraging in frowns 
and rebukes ; but frown as the priest and the scribe may, 
the children will sing. They cannot help it; out the song 
must burst, the soul is so full of j joy. That day the word 
about the ‘Church was fulfilled, “A littke child shall head 
them,” 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 127 


We read of many lands where the men and women are 
silent, sunk in superstition or indifference. Their hope 
lies in the school and the teaching their children get there 
about Christ the Saviour. There are many instances in 
which the hymns of the children influence their parents 
for good. So the “crying of the children” is breaking 
on the silence and even hatred to Christ of the parents. 
May we not hope that the song of the children will, ere 
long, overcome the silence of the parents, and that as the 
voice of many waters the song will sound through the 
whole world, “‘ Hosannah tothe Son of David.” The word 
is “cry.” It is the lifting up of the voice with strength ; 
a bold, full, hearty song, which Christ declared the very 
perfection of praise. 

There was no shade of selfish feeling in it. The whole 
heart went out with it. That is the best sort of music! 
The music of which Luther spoke, when he said that Satan 
was its bitter enemy! the music which invigorates one’s 
own soul whilst it inspires the souls of others. Children, 
it should be the music of our lives. First, it goes straight 
to Christ. He is the one and the all. And then it goes 
boldly out for Christ. Let all hear; let all know on whose 
side we are. 

We have a place in the temple that we may there witness 
for Him together with all true souls who have washed their 
robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 
O boys, be strong for Jesus! In school, at play, at home, 
in work, wherever you are, stand up, “cry,” for the true 
and right. Let your hand always have hold of your sword. 
the Word of God. Girls, live for Jesus! Blend your cry, 
the testimony of your sweet gentleness and patience, your 
readiness to help and comfort and minister to others in 
Christ’s dear name, with the praise which waits for God in 
Zion. 

III. The children receive the blessing which others lose. 
The King’s smile, the assurance that to Him their cry is 
sweetest praise. “ Hearest thou?” ask the priests. “ Yea,” 
is the answer: “have ye never read, out of the mouth of 
babes andsucklings Thou hast perfected praise.” This reply 
opens up to us Christ’s mind and way towards children. 
He delights in the children’s songs of praise, and opens 
wide His arms to them. “Snuffer them to come to Me.” 


128 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


There are flowers that last all through the summer and 
autumn! there are others that bloom and die in May and 
June. Thus too you find many graves in the cemetery 
very short, with little stones over them, telling of early 
deaths. Early deaths are early takings home. And oh, 
what a welcome, as the golden gates lift their heads, and 
Jesus receives His own! To be with Christ is far better. 

But the welcome is given whenever you come. The 
moment you receive Him as your Saviour, He takes you 
and sets you as a seal on His heart, and rests in His love, 
and rejoices over you with singing. And a wonderfully 
blessed thing it is to go through life, with all its changes 
and trials, and know that it is so; that you can always 
count on the Friend that sticketh closer than a brother ; 
that, every day, you can come anew with your sinful heart, 
and be washed and cleansed anew from sin, and go and 
serve Him with gladness. I feel that there is no higher 
honour which Christ can put on any one, that He can give 
no surer sign of His welcome, than opening the way and 
opportunity of being useful, and helping us to be useful, 
with a bright and loving spirit. And such honour is often 
put on the children. It is scarcely possible to say how 
very, very useful a truly good and happy child can be. I 
heard a French pastor, who has done much work for Christ, 
illustrate this. A little girl had learned to read the Bible. 
She used to read portions to her mother. “I wish I could 
read,” said the mother ; “but it is too late to learn!” “No 
mother,” was the answer: “I will teach you.” And she 
sat patiently every day and taught her mother. And some 
of the neighbours, when they heard, wished to be taught 
too. And soa class of older women gathered around the 
little girl. ‘There I found her,” said the pastor, “ going 
over the Primer, all listening to her, and following her ; 
and then, when the lesson was over, she read them a part 
of the Bible.” Is not that very fine, the child surrounded 
by mother and her neighbours, whom she teaches and 
guides! Christ’s welcome was overflowing from her to 
them. The rill that had been opened in her own soul was_ 
in her a well of water springing up to everlasting life. 

Yes, the welcome which the children crying in the 
Temple receive cannot be pent up in their own bosoms, 

Tt issues from the soul which it blesses in rivers of living 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 129 


water. Christ’s welcome is a light in the eye, a thrill in 
the voice, a swiftness in the foot that speeds on his errands, 
a new life and light and power. Well-come is fulfilled in 
“Well-done, good and faithful servant.” 

J.ML 


XLI. The Waste of Time. Marr. xxvi 8 “ Zo wha: 
purpose is this waste?” 


WHAT would you think if you were to see a man—who, 
by working hard day after day, was able to earn a wage 
of twelve shillings a-week—going down each evening, after 
he returned from his work, to a neighbouring harbour, and 
throwing into the sea a shilling of his hard-won money, 
while his rent was running on unpaid, and his clothes were 
getting worn-out, and himself was half-starved? What 
would you think of him thus throwing away a full half of 
his wages every week—by his folly preparing for himself 
a prison ora grave? I am sure you would say the man 
was mad; and most other people would say the same. 

But there are other precious things in the world besides 
shillings and pounds. There is t2me! You may have 
heard a saying, “Time is money.” For instance, if you 
were interrupting at his work a mason who is paid by 
the hour, or one of the young women in a factory who 
is paid by the piece, they might say to you, “Time is 
money; every quarter of an hour that you take up is 
the loss of so much wage to us.” But I go farther than 
that, and say, time is more than money, more costly and 
precious far; money cannot buy it—you cannot tell its 
value in gold. And God has given to none, young or 
old, more of this costly article than each needs. He has 
measured out to each just his needful portion, in which 
to do his work, and to prepare for eternity. What, 
then, are we to think of him who should do with his time 
what we supposed the workman to do with his wages— 
throw the one-half uselessly away ? 

Now, dear children, have not you been doing this? 
Let us just look at one of your ordinary days, and see how 
you spend it. Suppose you rise at eight in the morning, 
and go to bed at nine o'clock at night, as many of you do: 
There is a day of thirteen hours for you. What have you 

. ‘4 


130 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


made of it? How much have you used aright, and turned 
to some good purpose? and how much have you Jost? 
. And if so many as six or seven hours of a day have been 
wasted, what a loss that comes to in a month or a year! 
—what a tremendous loss in the course of a lifetime! 
Surely you will not wonder at me sadly asking the question, 
“To what purpose is this waste ?” 

The time of youth, above all precious, is most of all 
wasted; and the waste can never be made up. There is 
a boy at school—how does he employ his school time? 
Whenever his master’s back is turned, he is drawing figures 
on his book or slate, or ¢a/king when he should be dearn- 
zug; or when a neighbour comes in at night, and his 
mother’s attention is diverted, his book is laid aside and he 
slips out to his play, till it is time for bed. And that can 
never be made up for in all his after-life. When he grows 
up to be a lad he feels the want of it. He might get ad- 
vancement in his shop, but he has not education enough. 
He goes to night-schools, but the difficulty and drudgery 
of learning then are too much for him. 

There is no time like that of youth for storing the mind 
with useful knowledge. There is no time like youth for 
treasuring up what is good in the memory, as I myself can 
testify. Chapters of the Bible which I learned when a 
boy, are fresh on the mind as when first I learned them. 

What shall I say of the waste of Sabbath time, given to 
you by God to prepare for a fast-coming eternity? What 
shall I say of the excuses of some for neglecting the Bible 
and prayer? How is it that some, when their mothers 
would have them daily read a portion of the Holy 
Scriptures, say they have no time? Why, where the form 
of prayer is kept up, is it so hurried over by many young 
people, that you would think they have hardly had time 
to repeat ten words, before they are up from their knees 
again? They say they have zo tzme. If we did not waste 
so much of our time, we might have plenty of it for read- 
ing God’s word and for prayer. Could you not save a little 
from your play? Could you not save a little from your 
sleep? Ihave heard of servants and washer-women, who 
had to be at work very early, still finding time to worship 
God. 

By-and-by you will think that I have not dwelt on this 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 131 


too much. Some, ere long, when their time is all but 
spent, and eternity is close upon them, will bitterly bewail 
that they did not sooner consider and take warning from 
this question. 

I have seen boys and girls like yourselves giving them- 
selves up to Christ, and getting from Him pardon, and 
peace, and joy of no common kind. How anxious and 
earnest one and all of us should be! Every day is precious! 
To-day there is opportunity! Is it to pass unimproved ? 
are you to continue unblessed ? 

J. H. W. 


XLII. The Blood of Christ. Mart. xxvii. 25. “Ais 
blood be on us and on our children.” 


ON this day 1850 years ago a strange procession might 
have been seen passing from out the gates of an Eastern 
city. As the procession passed by there was an outer 
crowd looking on merely from curiosity ; some nearer were 
taking an interest in the scene itself, and above the cries 
of “ Crucify Him, crucify Him,” might have been heard 
the sobs of a certain woman. In the centre of that strange 
procession, surrounded by Roman soldiers, there was a 
poor man bearingacross. On His head there was a crown 
composed of thorns, from beneath which the blood was 
pouring ; in His hand He carried a reed which had been 
put there in jest; and his face was so shamefully treated 
that one scarcely likes to mention what it was—for that 
rude mob had spitten upon him; and but for the purple 
robe they had in scorn thrown around his shoulders, you 
would have seen that they were marked with the lash with 
which He had been beaten. And if some one on the out- 
skirts of that crowd 1850 years ago had asked who He 
was, the answer would have been, “A carpenter from 
Nazareth, whose name is Jesus, the son of Mary,” and that 
He was going forth to be crucified. But if you ask me to- 
day who was that, we have to tell you that to-day that brow 
is crowned above that of any earthly king, for He is the 
King to-day above all kings. That hand which bore the 
reed, to-day carries in heaven the sceptre over all the kings 
of the whole universe. That face which was so shamefully 
treated, is adored to-day by angels and archangels. He 


132 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


sits to-day upon a throne that is high above all kings, and 
around it there gather in praise and adoration all the hosts 
of heaven, all the cherubim and seraphim who laud, and 
millions and millions who have loved and died for Him, 
whose sins have been washed in the blood that fel) in 
Jerusalem that day. And from this myriad host there 
goes up the glad shout, “ Worthy is the Lamb that was 
slain.” 

Oh, what a difference between that first day and this! 
And yet it must be always remembered that what put 
Jesus to death, and what caused these men to use him so, 
is here even to-day—sin. And wherever sin is, the sin 
which you think, the sin which you do, the sin which you 
speak ; whatever is untrue, whatever is false, whatever is 
cowardly, remember that is sin, and it was sin which 
crucified Christ. False priests gave Him up to die, 
cowardly friends forsook Him, weak Pilate was afraid to 
deliver Him; and wherever, boys and girls, cowardice, 
weakness, and false friends are, remember that these were 
the things that crucified Christ. He answered nothing. 

Now I want you to notice one point. There was only 
one thing that could make Jesus turn round that day, 
only one thing that moved Him. What was that? One 
of His own friends said, “I know not the man.” “ Jesus 
turned and looked.” It must have been a look full of 
wondrous rebuke and pity. It seemed to say “ You, to 
whom I have been so good; you, whom I have so loved ; 
My own friend, deny Me!” On that terrible day remem- 
ber that this was the only thing that moved Christ. 

That is just what boys and girls and men and women 
may do to-day. We whom He has loved, we for whom 
He has died, we who call ourselves by His name as 
Christians—if we ever act as if we know Him not, He will 
be pained. Let us not join with those other rebels, who 
cried, ‘“ His blood be on us and on our children.” 

But how strange that after all, that cry of brutal execra- 
tion, “ His blood be on us and on our children,’ we may 
say to-day. And, O fathers and mothers, what better could 
you say for yourselves and little ones than that ery which 
1850 years ago Christ heard before His crucifixion, “ His 
blood be on us and on our children ?” 

TTS 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 133 


XLIII. Lent. Marki. 13. “And He was there in the wilder 
ness forty days, tempted of Satan ; and was with the wild 
beasts ; and the angels ministered unto Him. i 


I WISH this afternoon, my young friends, to speak to you 
about Lent. This consists of forty days which are called the 
season of Lent. Suppose you were walking down a street, 
and you saw at the door of a house an avenue of canvas, 
and the servants and others wearing wedding favours, you 
would know that there was a wedding; but suppose you 
saw every one had mourning bands on their hats, and were 
dressed in black, you would say, “There must be a funeral.” 
And so you know what the state of the case is, by the dress 
and general appearance of the people. If they all look 
happy and joyous, you think it must be a wedding ; but if 
they look sad and in sorrow, you think it is a funeral. You 
see there are different kinds of times in life, times of hap- 
piness and sorrow, and times of gladness and joy. 

And so it is in what we call the Christian Year. There 
is Easter, when our Blessed Lord rose from the dead; and 
Christmas, when our Blessed Lord was born; these are 
times of joy. This is a time of sorrow. This season is 
called Lent, because of the old word Lentum, meaning 
Spring. So this is a time of the year when we should think 
not of the glory of our Saviour’s birth or resurrection, 
but of the one sad theme. What is that? Sin. There 
is nothing else need make us really sad, nothing but sin. 
What is sin ? 

Now sin is any boy or girl or man or woman saying, “I 
will do just what I like.” That is sin. Yes, boys and girls, 
all the sorrows, all the misery, all the wretchedness you see 
around you in life, all comes from people saying, “I will 
do just what I like.” I think there are boys and girls here 
who have said that sometimes. Have you said that? It 
is the root of sin. 

What is a root? It is what you put in the ground, and 
is perfectly different from the flower which grows up, and 
you are surprised to think how that flower comes from that 
root. But it does. When I say sin comes from the boy 
or girl saying, “I will do just what I like,” you see the 
flower is not like the root. The thing that grows up is not 


134 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


the thing that is in the ground, but it comes from it. 
What is the harm, you think, in saying, “I will do just 
what I like”? Because you ought to say, and pray to 
God to be able to say, “I will try to do what God likes.” 
What does God like? God likes everything that is pure, 
everything that is true, everything that is unselfish, every- 
thing that is right. You do things that are impure, that are 
untrue, that are selfish, that are not right, instead of trying 
to do what God likes. That is sin. For you often, very 
often, and I also—for I often do wrong things—like our 
own way. What we must strive to do, is what God wants. 

Now Lent is just the time of year when the Church and 
we clergymen ask you to fight the battle of what is right. 
You have got an enemy; you must fight him. Your enemy 
is the devil. Now, whenever you have an evil thought, 
whenever your father or mother say, “Do this,” and you 
think you can do better than what they have told you to 
do, that is the work of the devil. Whenever you doa thing 
that is not quite right, that is the devil. And so I would 
ask you for the next few weeks to try and put this enemy, 
the devil, to flight. Feel that you have got him to fight, 
that everything that is wrong in you comes from him. 
How can people fight him? You remember that Oliver 
Cromwell had a great many enemies in this country, and 
he always wore armour under his coat. He put on armour 
to defend himself against his enemies. You have got this 
enemy, and you must try at this time of the year—for of 
all times this is the special time of the year set apart for 
this—to put on your armour against the devil. 

What is this putting on armour? I mean a little more 
praying, a little more thinking before you do anything, a 
little more attention at night to God when you say your 
prayers. I suppose you all say your prayers. I want 
you to begin to-night to carry it on with a little more 
earnestness and reality. Do not think of anything else; 
for half-a-minute or a minute think of yourself and God. 
Think of anything you have said unkind or disobedient, 
and think of nothing else for the moment, but say, “O 
Father, forgive me that for Jesus’ sake, and, O God, give 
me a little more strength for to-morrow, not to do it again.” 
That will be quite enough ; do not try to say long prayers, 
but try to think of your own heart. 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 135 


— 


Now, boys and girls, if you will do this during the next 
four weeks it will do you good. I should like to see every 
boy and girl not only praying more earnestly, but doing 
some acts of self-sacrifice. Some little pleasure you are 
going to have, say “I am going to give up that.” But 
there is no use in giving up a pleasure except for some 
purpose ; unless your self-sacrifice is for something good. 
I do not mean the money you give here for the poor chil- 
dren, but so as to manage at the end of Lent—that is Good 
Friday morning—you may say, “I have got so much extra, 
what shall I do with it?” Now never do anything, whether 
you are young, or if you live to be a hundred years of age, 
without asking God. Ask Him to guide you and help 
you, and He will, for He has promised you. Ask God, 
then, what He would have you to do. One little boy or 
girl who has been reading about the heathen children, poor 
little souls, who have never heard about the Lord Jesus 
Christ says, “I will send it to a Missionary Society.” 
Another will say, “I remember the poor ones at the East 
end of London. I will send it for them.” And that 
will be a little sacrifice, something more than you are 
doing during the other days of the year. During the 
next few weeks every little boy or girl will not have a 
birthday, but some will, and you are going to have a pre- 
sent. Well, ask your father or mother to give you the 
money instead, and say, “I will give that this year to God.” 
That is what we call sacrifice. This, and everything else, 
must be done through Jesus Christ. 

This, of course, will not make you a good boy or girl; 
but give it because you feel the Lord Jesus Christ came 
down from heaven and died to save you. Say, “For His 
dear sake, for the sake of Jesus Christ who loved me, and 
whom I am trying to love, even ever so little, for His dear 
sake I will give up something.” Give it up to help His 
Kingdom. 

Now do try and think of these things during this 
season. The time we commemorate is the time when the 
Lord fought the devil for forty days. Ask your father, 
or mother, or friend to help you. And when you go 
home, teach your brothers and sisters and young friends 
that Jesus Christ loved them, and died for them ; and try 
to live that life which He desires us to live, and we shal} 


136 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


have the eternal life which He has obtained for us, of joy 
in heaven. 
Tt. TS. 


XLIV. Christ in the Storm. Mark iv. 35-41. 


I WOULD like the children to think for a moment why it 
was that our Lord Jesus was so fearless in the storm. Ido 
not know whether any of you were ever at sea in a storm ; 
‘ but you can easily understand that it is one of those times 
when the courage of most people turns into terror. The 
boatmen who were with Jesus, and who were much more 
accustomed to the water than He, were afraid and stricken 
with terror. Yet Jesus was perfectly fearless. Not only 
was He able to speak calmly, but when He was awakened 
suddenly, with the voice of terror in His ear, He did not 
lose His composure. He was without fear. 

Now, children, why did Jesus have this fearlessness ? 
He answers this in the fortieth verse ; “ And He said unto 
them, Why are ye so fearful, how is it that ye have no 
faith?” He means that if they had trust in God they 
would not be so fearful, and that He was not afraid because 
He trusted in God. Then the next difficulty is, Yes, He 
was without fear; the storm could not strike terror into His 
heart because there was no fear for Him, inasmuch as He 
commanded the sea. But our Lord did not use His power 
to save Himself only. He did not turn the stones into 
bread. He did not use His power with the Roman soldiers 
for His protection. He never did His miracles except by 
faith and trust in His Father. It was by faith He lived 
and moved and had His being and did His purposes. 

But, you say, we cannot do wonders like that if we were 
in astorm. No, that is true; but if we are about our duty, 
we may be quite sure that God will protect us until our 
work is done just as much as if we were in the boat with 
Jesus. All Christians are in the hands of God, and under 
the protection of God, as these men in the boat were. The 
fact that Jesus is not with us in body, makes no difference. 
He is with us still, and He protects us still; only it is for 
God’s glory if we are to die or suffer; and when that time 
comes we shall not fear to die if we trust God. We shall 
not be afraid to meet the storm, even though the storm 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 137 


should wreck our body. Weare in God’s arms. It does 
not matter whether we die in the sea, or in our beds, for all 
places are alike really safe to him who is in God’s keeping. 
That is the true feeling of fearlessness. Our true life is hid 
with Christ in God. Here or there, awake or asleep, on 
the battle field or in our bed, living or dying, all is alike if 
we are hidden with Christ in God, if we are His children, 
and are always with Him. If we live, we live unto the 
Lord ; if we die, we die unto the Lord. Living or dying 
we are the Lord’s. Where is the place for fear? Why 
are ye so fearful? May God bless the reading of His 
Word. 
J. O. D. 


XLV. Evil Spirits. Mark v. 1-20. 


ONLY a few words on this passage for the sake of the boys 
and girls. You know that Holy Scripture teaches us that 
there are many persons in the world whom we do not see. 
Besides men and women, and boys and girls, who are human, 
there are other persons who are not human. And we call 
them “ spirits,” by which we mean we do not see them, we 
do not know when they come, and we do not know when 
they go away. But we know from God’s word that they 
are not very far from us. There are good spirits, and they 
are called angels; and we are told in Scripture that these 
are sent as messengers from God to warn good people 
against sin and temptation, in ways we do not know, simply 
because we do not see. And on the other hand, there are 
bad spirits, who are called devils, or demons, or fiends. 
And they, too, are not far from us. They seem to have 
some power, to be permitted by God to harm us sometimes, 
and to put bad thoughts and desires into our minds. And 
this man about whom I have just read, is a terrible example 
of how these spirits can torment a man. They had made 
a madman of him—that is, a man out of his mind, who 
was in utter wretchedness, who could not live among his 
fellow-men, and who could not be taken because he was, 
as the Gospel says, like a wild beast. It shows what would 
become of men if these spirits had their own way—that is, 
if we had not some one to protect us, and who keeps our 
minds and bodies safe from every wicked power, 


138 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


Now the great lesson of this passage is, that our dear 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who was born of Mary for 
‘ our salvation, is a strong helper, is stronger than the evil 
spirits round about us. It is great thing for you and I wha 
know so little of this unseen part of the world, that if 
we know that there are spirits trying to do us harm, we also 
know that there is One who is their Master. If we did not 
know this we should be afraid of what would happen to us 
some day. We should be afraid of dying, for we should 
not know but that we should fall into their power. But it 
is a comfort to know that there walks upon the earth the 
dear Lord who was much stronger than a whole regiment, 
that is what the word “legion” means, for a whole regi- 
ment was put to flight by the bare word, “go.” They were 
His creatures, His servants; He could speak and scatter 
them with a breath. He is our Friend, and uses this power 
for the good of man. Let us not fear, therefore, let us be 
strong and brave to resist these evil spirits when they come 
to us and try to make us bad; whether they come speaking 
by the lips of bad men, or in whatever form they come, let 
us not be afraid; but let us remember that our Friend, Jesus, 
is far stronger than they, and that those who do His will, 
and act right, are quite safe from all spirits, seen and unseen, 
in this world and the next. God be praised for this. Now 
children, let us pray. 

Blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, unto Thee and 
unto Thy Father’s keeping we commit ourselves and all] 
those we love. Let us be saved from all evil, let no wicked 
spirits have power to harm us. Deliver us from wicked 
thoughts. Make us good and strong and pure, free from 
pain and wickedness, and unkind and impure desires, Oh, 
our Lord Jesus Christ, who art King over both this world 
and the next, the seen and the unseen, be Thou our King 
and Shield, the Captain of our salvation, and our Great 
Deliverer. And we beseech Thee, oh, our Lord Jesus 
Christ that Thou wilt fight against evil thoughts, and evil 
words in this wicked world of ours, until victory is on Thy 
side. And let us stand with Thee. We pray Thee, Lord, 
that Thou wilt make us holy and humble and gentle: 
may we put our whole trust and confidence in Thee. Do 
Thou be pleased to give us the spirit of endurance and 
earnestness Do Thou spread abroad such wonderful 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 139 


trophies of Thy great power that there shall be no room 
left for mistrust. Keep Thy Holy Church, keeping it from 
the intrusions of the world’s spirit. Bless the children ; 
have mercy upon all mankind. Let the children learn Thy 
love and goodness and power, and become as the children 
of Jesus Christ our King. Tear down all wickedness, and 
let the light of the Gospel flood the hearts of all men. 
Answer us, Lord. Let our cry come unto Thee with power, 
for Thy Name’s sake. Amen. 
J. O. D. 


XLVI. The Demoniac of Gadara. Mark vy. 15. 
“ And they cometo Jesus, and see him that was possessed with 
the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his 
right mind: and they were afraid.” 


JESUS spent thirty-three years on earth, and all the while 
He went about going good. He delighted to do it. He 
would sacrifice needful rest or food to do it. He would 
go out of his road to do it. He would do it for the vilest. 

In this chapter we have a memorable example of 
this. 

He was occupied in teaching and healing the multitude 
who flocked to Him in Capernaum; but he suddenly 
wanted to be landed on the other side of the Sea of 
Galilee. His soul was yearning towards a lost sheep 
there. So He entered a ship and started. When Jesus 
left the boat, He walked towards the lost sheep whose 
rescue and salvation had brought Him over. Where is 
he? Yelling and with threatening arms behold him ad- 
vancing to meet Jesus. Whata lost sheep! Utterly lost 
to any but Jesus, but not to Him. 

I. Lhe misery of the man—He was a notorious charac- 
ter—a desperate maniac. There was a whole host of 
fiends in him, so that he had the horrors of hell in his own 
bosom. Does it astonish you that he was “exceeding 
fierce,” so that none dared approach him? And was it 
for such an one that the Son of God undertook this 
voyage, and was it on his deliverance that He was now 
bent ? 

And can He recover him out of the grasp of the tyrant ? 
Yes, verily, and that in the space of a few minutes, © 


{40 SERMONS TO CHILDREN, 


Il. Zhe majesty of Christ—As soon as the fanatic man 
caught sight of Jesus he rushed to attack Him. He sup- 
posed that He was a mere man; but Jesus put forth a 
secret influence, which awed him, as it did the soldiers in 
Gethsemane. Instead of springing on Him in a fury, he 
fell down on the ground and worshipped Him, for Jesus 
had commanded the unclean spirits to come out of him. 

That command awed him and he cried, “What have I 
to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God. 
I adjure Thee by God that Thou torment menot.” At His 
majestic word the devils obey and withdraw, as a beaten 
garrison does from a beleaguered castle, crest-fallen, con- 
quered ; and the man crept up to the feet of his Saviour, 
received with gratitude the garments which were offered 
him, and began to speak lovingly and gently as an angel. 

What a display of Christ’s majesty was this! 

Ill. Zhe mischief of the devils—This was shown in their 
violence when in the man. They turned him into a tiger 
—the terror of his neighbourhood. But it was further 
shown in what they did when they had left. They begged 
permission to go into an immense herd of swine feeding 
hard by. Jesus suffered them. No sooner were they in 
their new entertainers, than the whole herd ran down a 
steep place into the lake and were choked. What became 
of the devils? It would appear that they scrambled out 
of the swine and entered into the Gadarenes. The 
Gadarenes, we are told, assembled round Jesus and “en- 
treated Him to depart out of their coasts.’ Was not 
this another instance of their determined mischief? 

In conclusion, devils are abroad in England as in 
Gadara. If they do not rule us, they have access to us. 
None of us but have heard their evil whispers. Satan 
would, if he could, drive you, as he did this poor man, 
from those who love you, and strip you of the white robes 
of purity, and make you a curse instead of a blessing. 

Now Jesus promises to aid us against him. Are you 
putting yourself under His daily protection? Does He 
hear you morning and evening crying “Deliver us from 
evil?” Keep close to the Lord Jesus and you will escape 
all the snares of the Wicked One. 

So, doubtless, as the boat pushed off from Gadara’s 
shores, the freed captive would say with tears, “I will keep 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. ~— 141 


near to Him in all holy conversation, and then I shall be 
sure that He will keep near to me, till I meet Him in His 
heavenly kingdom.” 

J. B. 


XLVII. Jairus’ Daughter. Mark v. 38-42. 


THIS is very much a story for boys and girls, this story 
about the little girl of some twelve years of age, this 
Jewish damsel, who was so wonderfully brought back by 
our blessed Lord from the state of the dead. If you had 
been living then it might have been your case. She was 
the only child of her father and mother, and you can easily 
understand how deep their grief and distress were when 
her father hurried from her chamber to seek the help of 
the strongest he could find, the One who was most likely 
to save his little girl’s life. But let us pass from this. 

While Jesus was on his way with the father, Jairus, a 
woman insisted upon being cured of her disease, and while 
Jesus was yet speaking to her, messengers came to Jairus 
saying, “Thy daughter is dead; why troublest thou the 
Master any further.” So they thought it was too late ; 
they were not aware that no time is too late for the power 
of Jesus. Then Jesus came unto the poor father and 
strengthened his hope and said, “ Fear not ; go on trusting, 
trusting in Me.” Jesus took the charge of the house as 
soon as he got there, and the charge of the bedchamber 
too. The house was full of grief and confusion, as houses 
are apt to be at such seasons. But Jesus took charge of it, 
and the first thing he did was to make peace. He quieted 
the house where the women were beating their breasts and 
crying ; and when he had thus reduced that tumultuous 
dwelling to peace and order, then He proceeded to do His 
great and awful work of fighting with death. 

We have seen His power since we began these readings. 
Do you remember one story we read since we commenced 
these Sunday morning readings, in which Jesus brought 
back the dead to life? We have here another, that our 
Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Friend, is Lord of both 
parts of the world—the part to which we belong, the 
living; and the part yonder, among the spirits of the 
departed whom we call dead, where we cannot go just 


142 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


now, but where we shall go at death. You have had 
friends who have passed away and whose bodies are in the 
cold graveyard. Their spirits are in the unseen world, and 
we cannot go to them. But there is One, and only One, 
who has dominion over both worlds. Both worlds are in 
His hands, one in His right and the other in His left hand, 
end He binds them both in one because He is Lord of 
both. He is the Lord of the living, and He is the Lord 
of the dead. 

And do you notice how the Lord of the living and the 
dead speaks about dying? He will not have the word 
“dying” used. He puts it aside; there is no such thing 
as we call death. ‘Why make this ado and weep?” He 
asks, “the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.” He says this, 
because dying, to Him, is only a temporary falling asleep 
to waken again. We think if it is a sleep, it is a long 
sleep. But then a thousand years are but as a day to the 
Lord ; and whether the sleep lasts, as did this girl’s, for a 
few moments or for a thousand years, it is all one to Him 
to whom a thousand years area day. He calls it a sleep. 
Try, boys and girls, to think of your departed friends as 
asleep. Just think of them as does our Lord Jesus; and 
when you and I have fallen on our long sleep we shall 
still be in His care who is the Lord of the living and the 
dead. 

And just remember, that when Jesus allows death to 
knock at your door, and to come in, it is not because death 
is stronger than He. It is because He has a good reason 
for permitting it. He is so completely the Master of 
death that He makes it His messenger to do His bidding ; 
and when death comes to our dwelling and takes away 
one we love, let us bear in mind that death is not Jesus’ 
enemy but His messenger. He is like an angel ; he takes 
away our friend in his bosom. He has no power at all 
over us without Jesus. 

These things take away the sting of death, and the 
Apostle tells us they take away the fear of death from 
the good man’s heart. Let all the good boys and girls in 
my congregation not fear death. Fear very much to dis- 
please your Saviour, fear very much to live an ungodly 
life, fear very much to be away from Him who is our 
friend, and death’s enemy ; but do not fear death, it cannot 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 143 


hurt you. Jesus has conquered death long ago once and 
for all, and it is now His servant. 

Whether living or dead (or asleep, as Jesus calls it) we 
are quite safe in the hands and in the gracious care of 
Him who is Master of death and who loves His people, 
blessed be His name for ever. 

Tet 5: 


XLVIII. Herodias’ Daughter. Mark vi. 25. “ And 
she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, 
saying, I wiil that thou give me, by and by in a charger, the 
head of John the Baptist.” 


Gop teaches us by bad examples as well as by good ones, 
The good are like those little tug-boats which guide ships 
into a harbour, the bad are like black and shattered wrecks 
on a sand-bar, which say, “keep far away from here.” The 
Hebrew maid, and Ruth and Rhoda, are shining stars for 
ever and ever! Herodias’ daughter is a burnt out fire- 
work ; it was bright for a moment, but now it is ashes! 

And yet the Holy Spirit was ready to do for her what 
He did for them ; but they chose wisdom’s ways, which are 
ways of pleasantness and peace, whilst she chose the broad 
road which ends in destruction. She lived as a butterfly 
does, for mere pleasure. They were content to toil, as the 
bees do, to lay up treasure in heaven. 

We learn from Josephus that her name was Salome. Of 
her early history, however, we know nothing. But we can 
see that from her infancy she had this great disadvantage— 
her relations were altogether worldly. Her father, Philip, 
was a poor degraded creature. Her mother, Herodias, 
was a very wicked woman, with two husbands,—proud, 
malicious, a hater of truth and righteousness. Her uncle, 
in whose palace she and her mother were now at home, 
was a match for her in everything, perhaps, but in her 
courage and determination. The Gospels set him before 
us as an open adulterer—as a coward—afraid of John 
the Baptist, trying to pacify his conscience by doing 
many things which John preached, yet willing to please 
Herodias by shutting John up in prison, and consenting 
at last to kill him for the sake of keeping a drunken oath 


144 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


“He added this above all to all the evils which he had 
done.” With such friends we should expect that Salome 
would be no model. She might have been, by grace, the 
daughter of worldly parents, and in the midst of ungodly 
companions—she might have worn “white robes and a 
crown,” but it is generally otherwise. Children follow their 
families ; if they lead them unto Vanity Fair, into Vanity 
Fair they go; if they lead them toward the Celestial City, 
to the Celestial City they turn. 

I. Salome was a shameless girl. 

This appears in her permitting herself to dance her best 
in the midst of a company of sensual revellers. How could 
any modest girl have done it? But she liked it, it fell in 
with her depraved tastes. 

Can a dove be happy ina den of lions? Cultivate re- 
tirement and purity of mind. They will save you from a 
thousand snares. Boldness is a ladder which it is easy to 
climb, but before you think it, it trips you over, and you 
get a broken bone if not a broken heart. What are beauty, 
intelligence, accomplishments, without the bloom of inno- 
cence on them, or the veil of diffidence over them? We 
have seen them without that bloom, without that veil, and 
thought of what Solomon says about a “fair jewel in a 
swine’s snout.” 

II. Salome was unprincipled. 

This usually accompanies shamelessness. With no 
principle the vessel has no rudder, and so, of course, is the 
sport of the tides. She may drift amongst pirates, or ice- 
bergs, or whirlpools. Principle is a settled purpose to do 
right, because you are clear that it is right. It never 
changes or yields. It is the compass always pointing north, 
not the weathercock varying north, south, east, or west, 
with every wind. 

If Salome had had any principle she would have 
refused to take advantage of her uncle’s rash vow. He 
uttered it when flushed with wine, not knowing what he 
said. But she pocketed her scruples, and hushed her in- 
ward monitor, and greedy of gain she only said to herself, 
“What achance! What shall I ask?” 

Children are often tempted to do wrong. The path looks 
inviting. Soft voices cry, “Come.” You can if you will. 
It merely requires a shutting your eyes to the truth, to 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 148 


our convictions of duty, to the lessons of your teachers. 

t is a slight thing to leap a hedge, or break a pane of glass, 
and then the thing coveted is yours. Then you have what 
you desired—your Sunday afternoon’s truancy, or your 
playfellows’ cheers, or your employer’s property. But 
consider, that hedge is of God’s planting there, that pane 
of glass is God’s putting there! On this side you are 
prosperous, on that side you are ruined! 

Pray for real, deep-rooted principle. “The still small 
voice” is what you have to listen to. It will protect you 
and direct you as an angel would. 

There is a pretty old saying, “ He who snatches shall be 
covered with scratches.” 

III. Salome was a hardened girl. 

When her mother said, “ Ask for the head of John the 
Baptist,” she should have cried out with horror, “ Mother, 
you are mad! That would be murder!” But she did not 
hesitate for one instant; “she came in straightway with 
haste unto the king.” She agreed to this conspiracy ; she 
felt as her mother did about it; she would forego “half 
the kingdom ” to satiate their revenge. 

Why, her love for her mother alone should have induced 
her to refuse, to preserve her from such dreadful guilt. 
But Salome was hardened; she did not fear God or the 
judgment day ; she had no pity, it had been drowned like 
a half-fledged bird in the torrent of her passion. 

And she went through with it with the same brutality. 
The executioner was immediately dispatched to the blessed 
man’s dungeon, and speedily brought back the precious 
head, and gave it in a charger to the damsel, and the 
damsel carried it to her mother. What a burden for a 
maiden! A pale, livid head! A blood-stained head! - 
Salome could bear that head, severed at her request, to 
her mother, as she would a dish of food. 

God deliver us from such hardness, and from everything 
which produces it ! 

Children must guard against this. We say now, “I 
never could do what she did.” But we might creep along 
to it by degrees. The boy who begins by spinning cock- 
chafers and tormenting cats, gradually gets on to delight 
in cruelty to his fellows, and at last is a hero in all but his 
power to cause suffering. 

L 


146 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


There was a lad who was strolling through the fields 
with his sister. They found a nest of rabbits; the sister 
was charmed with the nest itself, so snug and warm, and 
lined with down, and with the tiny occupants. But the lad 
seized them, mimicking their squeaks and their struggles. 
In vain his sister wept and entreated; he flung them up into 
the air, and shouted as each fell dead onthe stones. “ Con- 
found your tears,” he said, “you should hire yourself to an 
undertaker.” Ten years after, that sister sat weeping again 
by that lad’s side. He was in chains, sentenced to be hung 
for shooting a farmer whilst poaching. “Sister,” he said, 
“do you remember the nest of rabbits, ten years ago, how 
you prayed and I ridiculed? I verily believe that from 
that day God forsook me and left me to follow my own 
inclinations. If I had yielded to your tears then, you and 
I would not be weeping these bitter tears now.” 

We do not pretend to reckon up all the mischief which 
is wrought at fashionable balls, or at the gay saloons to 
which the young men and women of our large cities are 
allured. But we take this as a specimen of what was 
brought about in a banqueting hall. The devil played the ~ 
music at that feast, as he does at too many, and the next 
morning there was a funeral, a sorrowing band shouldering 
a headless corpse to the tomb! That is not the only 
funeral, those are not the only lamentations, which have 
been begotten of a dance for the praise of men. 

“We may have a “ fiery dart” shot into one at church, or 
in our closets ; but if we go to balls and saloons we open 
our bosoms to them, and it will be strange indeed if Satan 
does not drive them in by the dozen. 

J. B. 


XLIX. Refreshment Sunday. Str. Mark viii. 1-8. 


THIs Sunday in Lent is called “Refreshment Sunday.” 
It occurs in the very middle of Lent, that is the forty days 
before Easter. It is a kind of pause or halt in the journey. 
When a traveller passes over a long journey, and after 
passing over the desert comes toa green spot, that is a 
place of refreshment. And this is a day of refreshment, 
and it is called Refreshment Sunday, because there is in the 
Lesson and the Gospel for the day something about food 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 147 


The Lesson for the day in the Old Testament is about a 
great famine, and the Gospel for the day is about our Lord 
feeding the multitude. I want to tell you that story, and 
help you to understand what it means. 

It was getting to the end of the day, and there was a 
great crowd around our Lord. Now He had been teaching 
all the day, and so wise and beautiful were His words that 
the people remained all day doing nothing but listen to 
the great Teacher. I sometimes think of boys and girls, 
and men and women, who get tired if one speaks for a 
quarter or half-an-hour, and I think what a wonderful 
Teacher the Master must have been for the people to have 
listened to Him all the day. 

Now the evening was come, and nearly all the people 
had travelled from some distance, and the disciples, that is 
our Lord’s immediate friends, said to Jesus, “ What shall 
we do with all this great crowd of people? They will 
starve. It would require a great deal of money, which we 
have not got, to go to the villages and buy food.” Our 
Lord said, “Give them something to eat.” The disciples 
said, “ We cannot ; we have nothing but a little bread and 
a few fishes. Here are thousands of people—how can we 
feed them.” I suppose the fishes they had got from the 
Sea of Galilee, because, as you remember, some of them 
were fishermen. ‘“ Make them sit down in groups in order,” 
said our Lord, for He liked order. And St. Mark tells us 
when they were all sitting down it was a beautiful sight. 
In the East they wear bright colours. They wear coloured 
garments on the head and shoulders, and so as they sat 
down they looked like flowers and plants over the mountain 
side. Fancy that beautiful sight—the people with their 
coloured garments, who had been listening to Jesus’s 
teaching all day. They were weary, but Jesus tells them 
to sit down. 

What happens? The disciples came to Jesus with the 
bread, and He broke the loaves and blessed them, and as 
His disciples took them they multiplied, and all those 
thousands of people are fed by Jesus with a few loaves and 
fishes. And when they had eaten enough our Lord says, 
“Gather up the fragments,” and they gather several 
basketsful of what was over and above. What a wonderfu. 
miracle ; what a glorious day for those people. 


148 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


Now all this teaches us something more than merely 
that Jesus fed the multitude. You know if you saw a 
shadow on the ground that there must be something be- 
hind, or reflecting that shadow. You would be quite sure 
if you saw the shadow of a horse that there would be a 
horse, and so on. And so these miracles are shadows. 
They tell us of something that is behind them ; and the 
shadow of this miracle is, that just as our Lord fed the 
bodies of these men, so He can feed our souls. 

First, this miracle teaches us a lesson about waste. 
They gathered up the fragments that were left. Children, 
never waste anything. I know some children who are very 
wasteful, who think that when a pencil is worn down half 
way it should be thrown aside. If you are careful you will 
take care of all fragments. You will show in little things 
what you are in great things. Do not be careless about 
your books. Do you think that is a strange thing to talk 
to you about in church. You must remember that our 
blessed Lord was Himself so careful about these pieces of 
bread. It was He that was careful. 

Then another lesson is that we are all to make use of 
what we have. Our Lord could have fed the multitude 
without these loaves. You have all got certain things 
which God has given you. Just as Jesus said, “ Bring 
these loaves and I will make them of use to you,” so 
He says to you, little boy and girl, “ You have a good 
memory; you have a taste for learning languages; you 
have a taste for music.” Whatever you have, Christ says, 
“ Bring it here to me.” Itseems a small thing to you, but, 
O boys and girls, if we would bring to Jesus all our things 
and say, “Lord, bless this and bless me in my lessons 
to-day,” what a glorious thing it would be. I wonder how 
often you ask Christ to be with you in your lessons. 
Everything we do should be brought to Jesus. He loves 
boys and girls. It is only those who love Christ who can 
be really happy. You should bring to Christ on your 
knees every morning your lessons, saying “ Lord Jesus, 
bless me this day,” and in the evening say, “I thank Thee, 
O Lord, for having blessed me this day.” If we did this 
what a joyous and happy life we might live. 

Above all, He will feed your souls. He will feed us 
with Himself ; with His own self; feed us so that we shall 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 149 


live with Him for ever. Feed us with the words of the 
Bible; feed us in answer to our prayers, morning and 
night. Feed us by what He teaches us in church on 
Sunday; feed us in our public prayers; feed us in the 
hymns we sing. Feed us afterwards, as we grow old and 
take the bread and wine, which are the type of the blessed 
body and the blood which He gave for every one of us on 
the cross. teed ess 


L. “He took them up in His arms.” Mark x 16. 
“Fe took them up in His arms, put His hands upon them, and 
blessed them.” 


A LITTLE child once said, “ When I am well I like to 
be carried by my father, but when I am ill I like my 
mother to carry me.” When asked the reason, he said, 
“When I am well, my father carries me on his back, and 
it is great fun ; but when I am ill, my mother carries me 
in her arms, and it makes me feel well.” That little boy 
did not know that he was helping to preach the gospel. 
Jesus was like his good mother. “He took them up in 
His arms, put His hands on them, and blessed them.” 

I. The arms of Jesus are “stretched out” arms (Ps. 
cxxxvi. 12).—This shows that the children are welcome to 
Jesus; that He is ready to receive them; that He bids 
them come to Him; that He longs to embrace them. 
You have seen a mother teaching her baby to walk. She 
puts her child against a chair, goes back a little, stretches 
out her arms, and says “Come.” The eye of the little one 
brightens as he sees the mother’s encouraging smile and 
the safe landing of the outstretched arms, the little limbs 
begin to move, the first voyage of life is taken, and its end 
and reward are the mother’s embrace and the mother’s 
kiss. I would ask all the children of the Church to make 
their first venture in life a venture into the outstretched 
loving arms of Jesus. One of the sweetest songs that any 
of us can sing is, “ Safe in the arms of Jesus.” 

II. Zhe arms of Jesus are holy arms (Isa. iti. 10).—This 
means that Jesus is holy, the holy Son of God. But it 
also means that those who flee to the arms of Jesus are 
made holy. When a little child was taken away from a 
wicked, drunken home, with a bad father and mother, and 


150 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


placed with other children under the care of a good woman, 
who was a wise mother to them all, the child said to the 
matron one day, “I wish my father was here, for I think I 
would love him good.” This is what Jesus does with all 
the children that come to his arms. He loves them good. 
When they are in His arms, bad tempers and sinful 
thoughts, and pride and untruthfulness, and all inward evil 
are cast out, and they are made by Him pure in character 
and useful in life. 

III. Zhe arms of Jesus are strong arms (Isa. 1xii. 8).— 
Some time ago there was a shipwreck on the coast of 
Africa. There was a little child on board, who was a great 
favourite with all, and the special pet of a strong sailor. 
The ship struck on a rock not far from the shore, and was 
sinking in a fearful storm. The strong sailor rushed into 
the cabin, took the little child out of its weeping mother’s 
arms, wrapped his oilskin coat round it, folded it to his 
bosom, and jumped into the raging sea. All on board 
perished, and the people on the shore, on rushing down to 
the sea, saw nothing but a man lying with a bundle in his 
arms. The man had a wound on his head, and was quite 
dead. He had been dashed against a stone and killed, 
but his bundle contained a living child. The child was 
saved by the strong arms of the sailor, though the sailor 
lost his own life. Jesus laid down His life to save His 
children, but He rose again from the dead, and now holds 
them in arms so strong that they are out of all danger from 
sin and sinful enemies. 

IV. The arms of Jesus are everlasting arms (Deut. xxxiii. 
37).—Not long ago I was visiting a dying mother. She 
was leaving six children, and they were all young. After 
reading God’s word to her, and speaking to her, and hear- 
ing from her that she was dying in peace and hope through 
the grace of Jesus, I asked permission to kneel down and 
pray with her. She said, “Oh yes, but give me my baby 
in my arms.” I took her baby from a neighbour who was 
in the house, and laid it in her arms. I then kneeled down 
and prayed, and when I was done she kissed her baby and 
gave it back to me. She died that night, and now that 
child is left without the comfort of a kind mother’s arms. 
But the arms of Jesus are not like the weak arms of flesh 
that fall away in death from the children they embrace, 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. I51 


His arms are round His children all through life, and 
through the raging flood of death, and He keeps them after 
death happy and blessed in His own eternal home. 

Now the children of the Church must remember that 
Jesus takes up in His arms wellzng children. If they 
refuse to come to Him and are not willing to be cared for 
by Him, He will let them alone. And when left to them- 
selves they will fall into sin and ruin and be lost. And 
they must remember that He also wants the children He 
takes to His arms to ¢vust Him. He knows what is best 
for them, where they are to live, how long they are to live, 
and what they are todo. He makes all the chiidren who 
trust Him good and useful in this life, and happy and 
blessed in that which is to come. But I think I hear some 
manly boy saying, “I do not like to be carried ; I want 
to walk alone.” We like manly boys; but what is manli- 
ness? The Bible tells us that it is leaning on God, trusting 
God, receiving grace to do the will of God. To live with- 
out God, to despise His grace, to refuse His guidance, to 
flee from His loving arms, is to be unmanly and unsuccess- 
ful in life. The two great lessons we all need to learn 
confirm the truth of the text that stands at the head of 
this page. The first is from the lips of Jesus, “ Without 
Me ye can do nothing”; the second is from the pen of 
St. Paul, “I can do all things through Christ, which 
strengtheneth me.” 

G. W. 


LI. An Easter Message. Mark xvi. 7. “But go your 
way, tell His disciples and Peter that He goeth before you into 
Galilee: there shall ye see Him, as He said unto you.” 


THAT was the mystic statement made by the angel from 
the empty grave of Christ on the first Easter Day; and 
what I want you to notice in it is that the only one person 
mentioned by name is Peter. Peter was one of our Lord’s 
disciples, so that the message “Go, tell His disciples,” 
included Peter among the rest. Yet strange to say the 
message was—“tell His aisciples avd Peter.” But as 
Peter was one of the disciples, why was his name men- 
tioned? To-day you know is Easter Day. You know 
to-day was the day when our blessed Lord rose from the 


152 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


dead, and on this day the message was sent, “ Go, tell His 
disciples and Peter.” 

Why was Peter thus mentioned? It would seem strange 
if I were, when speaking of my congregation, to say, “Go, 
tell all the children,” and then mention one by name. 
There was, however, a special reason for Peter’s name 
being mentioned. You remember what Peter had done 
three days before. You remember how Peter went into 
the hall where Christ was being tried, and where He was 
sentenced to death, and when a woman said, “ Surely you 
are one of His friends,” Peter said, like a coward, as he 
was at the moment, “I know not the man.” And a second 
time he was asked, as I reminded you last Friday, and he 
again said he knew not Jesus. You remember a third 
time, when it became more dangerous to be known as a 
companion of Jesus, a man said, “I saw youin the garden ;” 
he was afraid they would know he was the man who had 
drawn the sword for Christ, and Peter cursed and said 
he had not known Jesus. You see people are brave for 
a moment, and then become cowards when they have to 
suffer. 

And now Christ had risen from the dead how Peter must 
have felt. What would you have felt if you had done this 
to your kind friend? Peter had heard of His death and 
burial, and how He had come up a living Lord, having 
conquered death. He hated himself. If you had done 
this to an earthly friend, you would be afraid to meet him. 
I daresay your friend would say, “I will not have anything 
more to do with that coward who deserted me in my need.” 
And Peter must have feared that this would be Christ’s 
feeling on Easter Day. I daresay Peter must have felt so 
bitterly sad, so angry with himself, and I suppose the 
blessed Lord, who is always so full of pity and always so 
full of mercy to those who treat Him ill—I suppose He 
thought “If I send a message merely to the disciples, 
Peter will think I do not include him. Poor fellow! he is 
almost broken-hearted for his sin, and bad as he has been 
to me, I cannot becruel to him.” So Jesus at the moment 
of His resurrection, when He came forth from the grave, 
remembered that poor sorrowful, sinful man ; and the only 
name that was mentioned that first Easter Day was the 
name of the cowardly Peter 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 154 


Now, boys and girls, try to understand that, and get it 
into your hearts, and learn a lesson from it. You know 
the day of joy it was. You know that all Jesus had said 
about His being the one to judge the world was proved 
true by His rising from the dead. That makes Eastet 
Day a day of such joy. It is the joy of having a friend 
who is proved to have been true. Everything He said 
about Himself, every promise He made to others, is proved 
to be true because He rose from the dead. You know we 
have been all cowards. Boys and girls and men and 
women, brave as we have been in other things, we have 
been cowards very often about Christ. Wherever there 
has been any danger about losing some pleasure in follow- 
ing Christ, we have preferred our pleasure to His will. 
This is like Peter denying Christ. Yet the most cowardly 
can draw near to Jesus, because Christ sent that message 
to Peter, and He sends it to every one who has sinned, and 
to every one who has sorrowed for sin. 

So that though we may have been cruel to Him, though 
we have been ungrateful to Him, yet on this Easter morn- 
ing the message comes from Christ to every one of us, 
“Go, tell my disciples—above all tell that boy, tell that 
girl, tell that man or woman, or whoever it may be who 
has been most cowardly, who has denied me simply 
because there might be danger—tell them that if they are 
truly sorry for their sin, and believe that I overcame death 
and despoiled the power of the grave by My death and 
resurrection and ascension—tell them that they shall see 
Me, and that their sins shall be forgiven.” 

That is the glorious message of Easter for every one 
baptized with the name of Christ, and who earnestly, by 
prayer, endeavour to live a pure, holy, true, and brave life, 
in the spirit of Jesus Christ our Lord. 

T. T.S. 


LII. What shall we do? LUKE iii. 10-15. 


THE words I have specially selected for our text this 
afternoon are those contained in the question, “ What shall 
we do?” 

There were three distinct classes of people who asked 
the same question—What shall we do? The time and 


154 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


occasion when this question was asked was when John 
the Baptist was preaching and baptising in the wilderness 
about Judea. And the event is recorded by St. Luke. It 
shows us how John applied his doctrine of repentance to 
various classes. 

In the first place, let us consider these three classes 
or orders. We read “And the people asked him.” The 
“people” are separated from the other classes, and we 
may infer that the people here referred to were of the rich 
class, those most able to give, and this class in the Jewish 
nation was greatly wanting in charity; and this was a 
generally besetting sin among the rich classes of the Jews, 
this want of charity. He puts, as it were, his finger upon 
the black spot in their character immediately. He 
answered, “He that hath two coats, let him impart to 
him that hath none; and he that hath meat let him do 
likewise.” 

Now, dear children, this want of charity among the Jews 
does not exist amongst us in this district, and is certainly 
not the case in this church of ours. There have been many 
instances of want in this district ; but I am thankful to say 
that there are found here noble and kind friends who have 
relieved them immediately. And you, dear children, who 
come to this church Sunday after Sunday, through the 
kindness of your friends, and perhaps through self-denial on 
your part, are able to give your little gifts Sunday after 
Sunday, which in the end amount to a large sum, and 
provide for six cots for sick children and for poor children. 

Next came the publicans to be baptized, asking “ What 
shall we do?” These publicans were not what we call 
publicans in the present day. They were a class of tax- 
gatherer, generally of a low order; and in collecting the 
taxes they often cheated the people. You remember the 
words of Zaccheus—a chief publican—“If I have done 
any wrong to any man,” he tells our Lord, “I will restore 
it fourfold.” You see he was conscious of wrong. John 
answered the publicans, “ Exact no more than that which 
is appointed you.” Observe he does not tell them to leave 
their calling, but simply to conquer the great temptation 
of their calling. He tells them to do their duty. 

A third class came and put the same question. These 
were soldiers—Roman soldiers—going down to fight the 


SERMONS TO CHILDRFN. 15s 


King of Arabia. John first tells them to do violence to no 
man. They were apt to be violent so as te extort money. 
And he then tells them not to falsely accuse any man. 
Soldiers often did this in those days. Again he says 
“Be content with your wages,” or rather, ‘“ Be satisfied 
with your allowance.” Be content with your wages! Good 
advice and especially needed by servants. And again let 
us carry this spirit of content still further. However we 
may be placed, whether rich or poor, whether we have 
much or little, let us be content in our station. There 
have I know in past times charges been brought against 
our soldiers of cruel and violent conduct; but, dear chil- 
dren, if they have one characteristic it is bravery. Again, 
if there be another characteristic of the British soldier, is it 
not gentleness, mercy, and lovingkindness? We have had 
cases lately in Egypt of mercy and lovingkindness on the 
part of our troops. How can such kindness go without 
bravery ? 

Such, then, were the three classes of people who came 
to St. John, asking the question, “ What shall we do?” 

Now, dear children, I want you to ask yourself this ques- 
tion, “ What shall we do?” There is but one answer to 
that—Do your duty. Do you remember that the greatest 
admiral England ever had—Admiral Nelson—just before 
the battle gave the signal throughout the fleet, “ England 
expects that every man this day will do his duty.” England 
did her duty on that day, and the gallant admiral his 
duty full well. He fell while fighting for his country and 
his king. Do your duty, dear children, towards God and 
man. 

Our duty towards God is contained in the first four 
commandments. Christ said, “Thou shalt love God ; and 
the second commandment: is like»unto*it, Thou shalt love 
thy neighbour as thyself.” St. Paul says, “Love is the 
fulfilling of the law.” Therefore, dear children, in answer 
to the question, “ What shall we do?” I will give you now 
three little duties. 

First of all, and this is the greatest, Love God. The 
second is, Love your parents, or relations, or friends. The 
third is, Love one another. And whilst doing these duties, 
consider also, dear children, your besetting sin. There is 
some sin which clings to us more than any other, and this 


le ies TA , 
v = 


156 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


special sin we call the “besetting” sin. In the case of the 
rich Jewish people it was a want of charity; in the case 
of the publican it was extortion; and in the case of the 
soldiers it was violence and cruel conduct. So that each 
of us have our besetting sin, and let us try to get rid of it 
altogether. Let the rich break off from the rich man’s sin, 
let the poor break off from the poor man’s sin, let the old 
man give up the sins of age, and let the young man give 
up the sins of his youth. Dear children, do not have 
unkind thoughts of one another, do not envy another, and 
avoid disobedience. You remember the well-known hymn 
in which these words occur— 


“Let not your angry passions rise,” 


and remember you should be obedient to those who rule 
you, and be kind and loving to one another. 

Thus, dear children, you will dwell in brotherly love and 
fulfil the law of Christ ; and if, boys, you are spared through 
God’s mercy to grow up and to become husbands and 
fathers and soldiers and statesmen—do your duty. If, girls, 
you are spared through God’s mercy to grow up to become 
mothers—be kind and content, loving one another. Thus 
will you one day, one and all, hear these gracious words 
spoken to each and every one of you, “ Well done, good 
and faithful servant, thy duties are done, thy works are 
ended, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” 

J. W. 


LIII. One thing. Luke x 42. “ One thing is needful.” 


OuR subject is the way to heaven, and we shall consider 
five texts. 

First TEXT—“ Qye “live zs uecd/ius” Let us go to that 
high hill so often mentioned in God’s word—Mount Olivet. 


~ We walk up a short way, then turn round, and we see at 


about two miles west that marvellous city, Jerusalem. We 
climb to the top of the mount, and almost beside us, on 
the eastern slope of the hill, we seea village. It is Bethany, 
described by John, and known, doubtless, in heaven, as 
the town of Lazarus and Martha and Mary. We see the 
Saviour enter into their house—He often went to lodge 
with that family after His day’s labour in teaching, preach- 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 157 


ing, and working miracles in the great city on the other 
side of the hill. Jesus enters the house. Martha, who it 
is presumed was the elder sister, sets. herself to tidy the 
room, and attend to the personal comfort of the Divine 
Visitor. Mary sits at His feet, according to the Eastern 
custom, as a scholar, lovingly looking to Jesus, and listening 
to the gracious words of Him who spake as never man 
spake. To both sisters He said, as He says now to you 
and me in His Gospel according to Luke, “One thing is 
needful” —that is, you cannot be really happy unless you 
be on the way to heaven, through believing on Him, who 
is the Way, because “He that believeth on the Son hath 
everlasting life ;” and that is heaven begun. 


SECOND TEXT—“ Que thing thou lackest.” Once, while 
Jesus was passing through a multitude, a young man of | 


pleasing appearance came forward and said to Him, “Good 
Master, what good thing must I do to inherit eternal life?” 
To which the answer was given—not to do certain things, 
and he replied, “ All these things have I kept hitherto, 
what lack I yet?” But Jesus knew everything about him 
perfectly, as He knows everything about each of us, and 
He said to the man, “One thing thou lackest; go, sell 
whatsoever thou hast and give to»the poor, and come, take 
up the cross, and follow Me.” The young man wanted the 
heart to part with what of the world he did not need, and 
to give it to the poor; and so he parted with Christ at the 
very door of conversion, turned his back on the way of 
eternal life, and went away sorrowful—Jesus was sorry too. 


THIRD TEXT—“ Que thing I know, that, whereas I was 
blind, now I see.” “Jesus was again passing through a \ 
crowd, and saw a man who had been born blind, when He, | 


the Almighty Physician, spat on the ground, made clay of 
the spittle, anointed with it the blind man’s eyes, and bade 
him go and wash in the pool of Siloam. Without hesita- 
tion he went and washed, and received his eyesight. It 
was not because the clay was put on the blind man’s eyes, 
and that they were washed, that sight was got ; but because 
the man believed in the power of Jesus, and so did as Jesus 
bade him. The time for such wonders is long past indeed, 
but Jesus by His Spirit works greater wonders still. He 
opens the blind eyes of the soul, and that is the greatest 
miracle of all, And when you undergo this change you 


158 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


can say, One thing I do know, that, whereas I was blind, 
now I see. I formerly was fond of sin; I did not care for 
holiness or the way to heaven, nor did I know the Saviour 
—my soul was blind. Now, what a change! I see sin to 
be that which God hates, and I hate it. I see holiness 
to be beautiful. I love the way to heaven, and I see Jesus 


/ to be altogether lovely. 


FOURTH TEXT—“ This_one thing I do, forgetting those 
things which are behind, I press toward the mark for the 


“» prize.” So said the Apostle Paul—as says every child of 


God. Like Peter, when on the water by Christ’s invitation. 
He planted his feet as firmly on the top of the waves as if 
he had been walking on a rock. He was forgetting the 
fury of the sea and of the winds; he had Christ in full view, 
and he was drawn to his Divine Master by an invisible 
cord of belief and love. But the cord slackens ; he listens 
to the roaring waves, takes his eyes evidently from Christ, 
and thinks of the helplessness of poor Peter himself, and so 
begins to sink,—till again, looking to Jesus, he is safe. 
Let your motto ever be, “ Onwards, upwards, heavenwards, 
looking (away from ourselves, weak and helpless) unto 
Jesus.” Then are we without doubt on the way to Heaven. 


- FIFTH TEXT—“ Que thing have [ desived of the Lord.” 
You say, I trust I have got the one thing needful—Lord, 


I believe, help my unbelief ; hence you say, as the Psalmist 
did nearly three thousand years ago, and God’s people have 
done ever since. 


“ One thing I of the Lord desired, 
And will seek to obtain, . 
That all days of my life I may 

Within God’s house remain :” 


the meaning of which is beautifully brought out in these 
words of that grand poet for the young, Isaac Watts :-— 


“Lord, how delightful ’tis to see 
A whole assembly worship Thee ! 
At once they sing, at once they pray ; 
They hear of heaven, they learn the way. 
I have been there and still would go, 
is like a little heaven below.” 


R. FF. 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 159 


LV. Knocking. Luke xi. 9. “ Knock and it shall be 
opened unto you.” 


ANY morning, in a great city like London or Edinburgh, 
there are hundreds of thousands knocks at doors. The 
ostman knocks with the letters, the milkmaids with the 
milk, the tradespeople for orders; doctors knock at their 
patients’ doors, friends at their friend’s. And all these 
hundreds of thousands of doors will be opened ; some by 
servants, whose business it is; some by the owners of the 
houses, who have no servants ; and some by little children, 
who are very fond of running to see who is there, and what 
good things may be coming in. And yet I suppose there 
is not one of these hundreds of thousands of doors which 
has this written over it, “ Knock, and it ska// be opened 
unto you.” There are the names on brass plates of the 
people who live within; and now and then there is “ knock 
and ring,” and the knocker itself seems to say, “I'll call 
them for you ;” but there is no “sa// be opened” to be 
seen there, it is always a venture. Nay, the bolts and bars 
and locks within are right against the “sa// be opened,” 
for they are to prevent the opening for at least eight hours 
out of every twenty-four. And then there are doors— 
such as trap doors in ancient castles, or vault doors in old 
cathedrals—which cannot be opened. They are nailed or 
walled up for ever! The hinges are rust, the handles dust. 
You might knock at them night and day as hard as a 
sledge hammer and they would turn a deaf ear to you. 

I. What door is this then on which is inscribed, “ Knock 
and it shall be opened unto you”? This is our first 
question. 

What is the “door” here spoken of? I think it means 
the ear and heart of God our heavenly Father. And as 
it is through Jesus that we can speak to Him, and as 
it is through Jesus that His love replies to us, so Jesus 
is His ear and His heartto us. “Iam the door,” he said. 
He listens to our sin-defiled prayers and presents them to 
God; and He is the fountain of grace, from which flow 
God’s answers of peace. Our petitions go zz to God 
through Him and return from God to us through Him 
Does God hear us? It is for Cheist’s sake. I delight ir 


160 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


that thought that Jesus is our door in to God, that He 
is our heavenly Father’s ear and heart to us. In Him 
God draws near to us, and listens to us. We reach 
His almighty ear. In Him God looks tenderly upon us, 
and feels tenderly towards us; we reach His almighty 
heart. I would not have another door if I could; an 
angel door, or saint door, a Mary or Joseph door; I am 
satisfied with my Jesus door. 

What a difference it makes who the door-keeper is, 
whether it is a rough sentinel with a bayonet, or a feeble 
infant who cannot move the key, or an angry beadle who 
growls at your troubling him. I remember in a large 
French church there were several wooden boxes with 
small holes in them. Those who came in fell down on 
their knees at these holes, and began to whisper. Within 
the box was a Romish priest, to whom they told their sins 
and secrets, and then.he assured them of God’s forgiveness. 
They dropped a shilling in through the hole. I felt much 
more inclined to thrust in a sharp-pointed umbrella. And 
yet this is the right idea, but it is foolishly and wickedly 
perverted. It is right to approach God through another 
that is holier and higher than ourselves; and we are to 
expect God’s favours through him. But then who is that 
higher and holier person? Certainly not a mere creature, 
who is as guilty and needy as ourselves; but Jesus, whom 
God has appointed for that purpose—who is as divine as 
He is human—who is as truly one with God as He is one 
with us—who 


“Knows what strong temptations are, 
For He has felt the same ;” 


and yet has from eternity been the centre of God’s smiles. 
They were withdrawn from Him but for a single moment 

in His whole existence. It was when He was expiring on 
the cross for us. You recollect how He cried out, “My 
God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” But 
presently they rested on Him again, and then they rested 
on Him for us as well as Himself. So now we need not 
fear to press close to God in Him. “Boldly” is the word 
which the Apostle chooses for it, “or in full assurance of 
faith.” For it is a brother door, a mother door. It is not 
a door of boards, but a door of “bowels of mercies,” It is 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 161 


not a cold, hard, dumb door, but soft, sympathizing, alive. 
It is our dear Immanuel, the ear and the heart of our God, 
who Himself said this: “ Knock, and it shall be opened 
unto you.” 

II. What is it to “ 2nock” at it? Isit not topray? Is 
not this just what Jesus was discoursing about? The 
lisciples had said to Him, “ Lord, teach us to pray ;” and 
He was teaching them to pray. He taught them by a 
model prayer—the Lord’s Prayer. When then a minute 
afterwards He speaks to them of “ knocking,” they would 
be sure to understand Him as referring to praying. But 
you will notice that, before He uses this strong term for 
it, He has passed on from prayer generally to a particular 
kind of prayer—earnest prayer. By a simple parable He 
has shown them the power and certainty of such prayer as 
that. If you went at midnight to a neighbour and begged 
three loaves of bread of him—though he would be vexed 
at being disturbed, and slow to rise from his warm bed, 
and reluctant to go down to the kitchen; though he would 
positively refuse to do it at the beginning, nevertheless, if 
you persisted and entreated (as you would if you were 
aware of his £zmdness, and if you really wanted the loaves), 
then because of your “importunity ” you would succeed— 
your neighbour would open the door. And so, depend 
upon it, says our Lord, if you thus pray—if you pray from 
your soul—your heavenly Father will grant you the Holy 
Spirit. “I say unto you, £zock, and it shall be opened 
unto you.” 

To knock, then, is to pray fervently. The passengers in 
a ship may be in the habit of praying ; but when there is 
peril—when the storm is bellowing, when the masts are 
falling overboard, when the captain is hopeless—then they 
meet together in the cabin and £uock at the door of God's 
omnipotence. A parent may be in the habit of praying 
for her babe regularly, ere she lies down to sleep; but if 
she is suddenly summoned to see it gasping in its crib, and 
fixing its unconscious eyes upon her, she betakes herself to 
knocking at the door of God’s compassion. Jesus Himself, 
whilst He was constantly praying, may be said to have 
added knocking to praying in the garden of Gethsemane. 
when He thrice repeated His prayer, and with fresh energy 
each time. The Syro-Phcenician woman in the Gospels 

M 


162 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


is a beautiful illustration of this knocking. She could not 
be daunted. She would not be put off. “Yea, Lord, yet 
the dogs eat of the crumbs which drop from the master’s 
table.” That was a loud and vigorous £uock. David, too, 
as many of his Psalms prove, was wont to knock. Read 
the 142nd and 143rd as specimens. 

Earnest prayer is the prayer which honours God; 
which attains its object; which opens the door. That is 
why your prayers are so fruitless; they lack earnestness. 
You present yourselves at the door, but you do not knock ; 
you do not “find,” because you do not “seek.” You walk 
about in the field where the treasure is, but where is the 
searching and digging for it? You sail about over the 
pearls, but where is the stripping and diving for them ? 
What can you expect from a few dry sentences mumbled 
at a chair, without the slightest affiance in God, without the 
feeblest lifting of your desires to God, without the weakest 
stretching out of your hand to knock? But when you 
have learned to knock in your prayers—when sorrow or 
danger compel you to it—then you will be ashamed of 
these lazinesses. Meanwhile, let us recollect that it is not 
said, “ Repeat a form of prayer,” or “ Drop by your bedside 
and bow your head,” but “ Axzock, and it shall be opened 
unto you.” 

III. What is the opening? Is it not this, that God will 
be attentive to your prayer? It is a solemn promise of 
that; not that He will fulfil your prayer—that is another 
thing—but that it shallreach Him. His wisdom and kind- 
ness may decide that it had best not be fulfilled, or that 
the fulfilment had best be delayed. Will you not leave 
that to His wisdom and kindness? But there must be zo 
doubt that the prayer is lodged in His ear and heart. If 
there is doubt about that there is no encouragement. It is 
a risk, a chance, a “may be,” not a “shall be.” But no, itis 
a “shall be.” We may be confident of that. It is settled, 
sealed. God is bound by it. “Knock, and it shall be 
opened unto you.” That is the important thing, that we 
shall have an audience. We have but to supplicate and on 
this we may rely, that those arrows of supplication, though 
shot from a trembling bow, shall pierce the skies, shall 
not stop short of God’s throne, and God will gather them 
up and the message which they bore thither. 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 163 


eT 


Try Buckingham Palace door, if that will be opened to 
your knocking. You would probably be arrested and fined 
for your presumption. Kings and queens cannot mount 
this motto on their doors, because it would expose them to 
endless annoyance and impoverishment. Soon they would 
have to say, “The door must be fastened, we are worn 
out;” or “we have no more left.” But not so with God, 
for He has inexhaustible supplies for us. Though He 
enriches millions, hour by hour, He is no poorer, it is but 
a million of thimbles dipped in the ocean, or a million of 
ants stealing grains of earth from a mountain. My son or 
daughter says to me, “ Let me have a kiss.” I am pleased 
and not robbed. A kiss is sweet to them, but it would cost 
me nothing if I let them have them by myriads. And 
God has “ good and perfect gifts” to bestow on His sons 
and daughters, as freely and bountifully. It is His joy to 
load us with them, and to have us thoroughly happy in the 
abundance of His pardon, and strength, and peace, and 
protection. Can we not believe this ? 

When Jesus was here did He not open the door to 
those who knocked? Who were refused? Who could 
say, “He would not do it for me?” The leper, vile as 
he was, did but knock thus, “Lord, if thou wilt,” and 
the door was opened to him. Blind Bartimeus knocked 
impatiently, but it was opened to him. Nicodemus and 
Zaccheus knocked timidly, but it was opened to them. 
She who wept over His feet at Simon’s feast, and wiped 
them with her hair, she knocked without a sound, and 
yet it was opened to her. Those who assembled to pray 
for Peter’s deliverance from execution, knocked and 
knocked on till the execution was awfully near; but long 
before, the door had been opened to them, as they saw 
when Peter stood before them. Of course it was, for God 
has said it, and it cannot be altered, “Knock, and it shkal/ 
be opened unto you.” 

And I trust that you who are now perusing this page 
can add your testimony to the truth of it. You can say, 
“Yes, I knocked and it was opened to me, I never knock 
but it is opened unto me.” 

In conclusion I have two exhortations. 

Knock ferseveringly. Do not be frightened by unbelief, 
or by Satan’s suggestion that it is useless. He will do 


164 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


what he can to dishearten you—but persevere! Would 
you be driven from a door by a cat mewing, or because it 
was necessary to repeat the knock? To flesh and blood it 
is a strange thing to pray where there is nobody visible ; 
but hete you have what is quite as solid, the pledge of God 
from the lips of Jesus. that He will open to you. There- 
fore knock perseveringly. 

Knock modestly. Not with that familiarity which is so 
shocking, as if God was your equal; as if you could demand 
what you require! Heis Jehovah, you are a grasshopper 
before Him. Be careful of your speech, therefore. Lie 
low ; imitate, not the noisy fellows who spring down from 
carriages and batter our doors in with their rude violence, 
but the hungry or thirsty animals—the cow or the sheep— 
which Z/ead with moans and tears for what they claim 
of us. 

A lady visitor climbed a flight of stairs to what she 
conceived to be a forlorn attic. She was prepared to 
behold squalor, poverty, wretchedness. Fancy her surprise 
when a nice, neatly dressed boy bade her welcome to a 
room, the walls of which were covered with capital prints, 
and the floor with piles of books. The furniture also 
was sufficient and suitable, and there was a cupboard 
which had sundry articles of crockery and food init. He 
told her his story. He was an orphan, and a member of 
the Shoeblack Brigade. He had obtained, he said, these 
things by “nocking at the door.’ When his work was 
slack he applied himself to studying odd bits of newspaper, 
and as the gentry and merchants resident around cheered 
him on with pennies, he “guessed” he would knock at 
their doors and ask for such pictures and books as they did 
not value, for he was fond of them. They would not let 
him be rebuffed; they willingly contributed what was 
nothing to them, but a fortune to him. What he had 
duplicates of, he sold, and bought furniture, crockery, and 
food with, and “ what was curious,” he said, clothes nearly 
always accompanied the presents of pictures and books, so 
that he was seriously contemplating a rag and bone shop 
of his own. And it was “knocking at the door” which 
had done it. 

May we so knock at that celestial door, knock at it so 
faithfully and frequently, that we may have as goodly a 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 165 


heritage to show for it as this enterprising boy had for his 
knocking at the doors of oak and pine. 
Ls 


LV. The Barren Fig-tree. LUuKE xiii. 


Tuts is the parable of the unfruitful fig-tree, and I have 
read you the other verses because they tell us: why the 
Lord spake this parable. There was great excitement in 
Jerusalem. Just before this, people had come from Galilee 
and stirred up what we should call a rebellion, and Pilate 
had very properly put them to death ; and when our Lord 
came—He was from Galilee also—they fancied that He 
was going to stir up another revolt, and they thought He 
had a better chance. They told Him that Pilate had 
slain the others and mingled their blood with the sacrifice 
upon the altar. Then our Lord told them this parable. 
He said that a man once had a fig-tree in his garden, and 
he came year after year—he was evidently a very patient 
man—and still he found no fruit. Then he said to his 
vineyard man, “ Behold, these three years I come seeking 
fruit on this fig-tree and find none; cut it down, why cum- 
bereth it the ground?” Then the dresser of the vineyard 
pleaded that the tree might be spared. Give it one more 
year ; but after that, if it bears not fruit, let it be cut down. 

The first thing this parable teaches is, that the Jews were 
God’s own people, God’s chosen people, who were to bear 
fruit among all nations, that by showing other nations how 
true and devout they were they would be won over to 
serve God. But they did not do this, and God cut them 
down. Forty years after these words were spoken the 
temple was burnt. 

But the lesson I want to tell you about is about 
yourselves. Weare fig-trees planted in the Lord’s garden ; 
we have Him coming year after year looking for fruit and 
finding none, and at last the Master will be compelled 
to say, “Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground.” 
“Cumbereth” means taking the place of others, taking the 
nourishment from other plants. But the keeper of the 
vineyard, even the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, says, “Let 
it stay another year. I will water it, I will manure the 
ground, and then if it bears no fruit, cut it down. Now 


166 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


the reason I want to speak to you is—You are all little 
trees planted in the garden of the Lord. He does all He 
can to make you fruitful trees in the garden; but the time 
may come when the loving Master Himself will have to 
say, “Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground ?” 

Then the keeper of the garden, the Lord Jesus, says 
“Spare it for another year. Upto this day it has borne 
no fruit; but spare it one more year.” You have been 
planted, boys and girls. God has watered your life with 
His blessings. He has shone upon you the sunshine of 
His love. He has sent pastors and teachers to dig around 
your roots, so that all blessings may be yours ; and still 
the Master of the vineyard comes and finds no fruit. You 
may have felt things, you may have learnt things ; but the 
one thing is this—Have you lived better, nobler, truer, 
purer lives? Have you considered before resting for 
the night whether you have done one bad thing; have you 
uttered one disobedient word to your father or mother, 
have you said one unkind thing to your brother or sister— 
have you been sorry for so doing before saying, ‘Our 
Father which art in heaven” ? 

Now, when you kneel down to pray, just think, “Am I 
bearing any fruit to God? He has spared me while others 
have been cut down.” He comes to seek fruit to-day, 
after these months of our teaching and praying together. 
He seeks fruit in your hearts, the fruits of kindness, meek- 
ness, purity and love. Oh, does He find any here of whom 
He will at last, after long and patient waiting, have to say, 
“Cut it down ; why cumbereth it the ground ?” 

Surely the thought of Him coming to this earth and 
living and dying for us—is not that enough to melt our 
hearts and make us resolved to lead nobler and more 
fruitful lives? It is an awful thought, that the Master 
comes to-day to each of us, seeking fruit. May the great 
God grant in His great mercy that He may not come te 
any one of us and find no fruit. 

T.T.S. 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 167 


LVI. Excuses. LUuKE xiv 18. “ And they all with one 
consent began to make excuse.” 


A PARABLE is a short story or history which our blessed 
Lord used to illustrate or impress upon His hearers some 
great and precious truth. There are many parables which 
our blessed Lord delivered, most of which are familiar to 
you. There is the parable of the Sower, of the Tares and 
Wheat, of the Sheep and Goats, and many others ; and I 
want to call your attention to-day for a short time to the 
parable of the Great Supper. 

Let us consider the occasion when it was delivered and 
where it was delivered. Christ was in a Pharisee’s house, 
and it was the Sabbath day; and there came to Him a 
man suffering from the dropsy. It was the day on which 
the Pharisees would not have done any act of mercy like 
this. But our blessed Lord at once heals this man. He 
then teaches humility, and He then shows who are our 
best guests. I have gone back thus because this affects 
the incident. He says, “When thou makest a feast, call 
the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind”; and then 
He begins to deliver the parable of the Great Supper. 

He does not begin this parable as usual with the words, 
“The Kingdom of Heaven.” He was seated among the 
Pharisees, who rejected the Kingdom of Heaven. He tells 
them that a certain man—that is, God Himself—made a 
sreat supper. The great supper was the offer of salvation 
through the gospel; and servants who were to bid men 
come into the supper were of old the prophets and apostles, 
and now ministers, and they said, “ Come, for all things are 
now ready.” And we find that everybody with one consent 
began to make excuse. There were three excuses. The 
first was, “I have bought a piece of ground, and I must 
needs go and see it.” That, children, seems to me a poor 
excuse. Would not a man see a piece of ground before he 
bought it? The next said, “I have bought five yoke of 
oxen, and I must go and prove them.” Now, would a man 
buy these without first trying them? The third said, “I 
have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.” These 
three excuses were simply feeble evasions. All these 
people refused the offer of salvation ; they put the world 
first of all. 


168 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


———= 


We read then, that when our Lord heard these refusals 
He was angry. He said, “Go out into the streets and 
lanes of the city. Bring in here the poor, the maimed, the 
halt, and the blind ”—that is, bring in the publicans and 
sinners. You know our blessed Lord said, “ I came not to 
call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” So our Lord 
gives this order, to call the poor, the maimed, the halt, and 
the blind. They accepted the invitation. Then our Lord 
said, “Go out into the highways and hedges and compel 
them to come in, that My house may be filled. For I say 
unto you, that none of those men which were bidden shall 
taste of My supper.” It was the Gentiles who accepted 
the invitation. 

Children, here is a great supper; here is a general 
invitation, first to the Jews, because they were God’s chosen 
people ; and, when they refused to receive the gospel, you 
remember it was preached afterwards to the Gentiles. The 
Apostle Philip preached to the people of Samaria, and 
Peter baptized the centurion, and Paul preached to the 
Gentiles. 

Specially would I call your attention to the words, 
“And they all with one consent began to make excuse.” 
Now, children, how frequently in this world people make 
excuses. When some people are asked to do anything 
they say “I cannot” when they can, or they will say “ Not 
at this moment, but to-morrow.” They put off a great 
deal from day to day, and perhaps it is never done. 

Remember, children, if a thing is to be done in your 
schoolroom, or wherever it is, do it at once—any duty of 
any kind, any act of love or kindness—do it at once, and 
do not put it off. Procrastination is the thief of time. 
What is procrastination? It is the putting off of anything 
from day to day. Dear children, make no excuses for not 
doing any good thing. Make no excuses for not coming to 
church, Make no excuses for not attending God’s house ; 
but go whenever it is possible to join in the service of 
prayer and praise. 

One more word and I have finished. The great thing is 
to do the right thing at the right time. A person may be 
in sorrow or trouble, and how a word spoken in sympathy 
in due season goes to the heart of the sufferer. You 
remember that at the great battle of Waterloo, when the 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 169 


French lines were seen to waver, the commander-in-chief 
of our army gave his order to the Guards, and in a few 
moments those lines were broken and dispersed. In the 
late Egyptian war there was a great march in the night, and 
our troops burst on the Egyptians at the break of dawn. 
That was doing the right thing at the right time. Do 
whatever you do with all your heart and soul and strength, 
and use the opportunity, take the present time ; and above 
all, do works of mercy, lovingkindness, and goodness. 
Never, dear children, make an excuse for deferring them. 
Never make an excuse as you grow up for doing those 
things well pleasing to your heavenly Father. And may 
God support you for many a long day and year to attend 
His worship and join in His praise. 
J. W. 


LVII. The Joy over one Penitent. LUKE xv. Io. 
“‘ There 1s joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner 
that repenteth.” 


AFTER the parables of the Lost Sheep, and the Lost Coin, 
and before the parable of the Prodigal Son, our Saviour 
puts these words (Luke xv. 10): “ Likewise, I say unto 
you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over” 
—what? Something man calls glorious? battles? the 
discoveries of science ? the fall of kingdoms? No. “Over 
one sinner that repenteth.” Man’s great is very small with 
God ; and nothing on earth is so great as the conversion 
of a sinner. 

Let us try to understand this joy. Like the joy of the 
shepherd and of the woman, ¢¢ zs heightened by the loss, the 
long search, and the many dangers. Elihu Burritt tells that 
some boys once visited the Natural Bridge of Virginia, 
The soft limestone rocks there are deeply carved at the 
bottom with the names of visitors, and one of the boys 
resolved to carve his name—Jim Voe—above all the rest. 
He did so, and then found that he could not get down! 
He tried to reach the top, but soon lost heart. The news 
spread like wildfire, and hundreds flocked to the spot—his 
father and. mother among them. After many hairbreadth 
escapes and hours of fear, he was landed safely on the top. 


170 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


— 


And then what a scene of joy! The heavenly ones look 
down on all the sinner’s dangers, and so are the more filled 
with joy when the lost is found. 

And joy in heaven over the penitent is u#zversal. The 
friends and neighbours of the Shepherd in heaven are the 
saints and the angels, who bear a great good-will to man. 
As all under the roof joined in the song of the prodigal’s 
father, so all in heaven share the joy over the penitent. 
As great grief is solitary, so great joy is social, and grows 
by the number who share and express it. No grumbling 
elder brother puts a jarring note into heaven’s song. © 

This joy is also zm the bosom of God, for it is “in the 
presence of the angels of God.” All the angels look God- 
wards, and so God only is in their presence. What! the 
return of a sinner increasing joy in the abodes of ever- 
lasting joy, in the bosom of the Father? Yes, the text 
says so. A toy brings joy to a child, but not to a man; 
common things gladden common men, but not great men ; 
the joys of the greatest of men are probably beneath the 
angels, but what must it take to add to the joy of the 
ever-blessed God? The return of one sinner does it; for 
all this joy is over one sinner, one outcast, any one, no matter 
how mean, if he only repents: it is not in honour of a 
king, or of a genius, who repents. Do not think that you 
are lost in the crowd, that you would never be missed, 
that you are just like a leaf falling in the forest, or a drop 
sinking in the ocean. You greatly err, not knowing the 
Saviour’s heart, for not one escapes His eye ; He follows 
you as if there were only one world, and you its only in- 
habitant. And all in heaven think of you: “ Rejoice with 
me; for I have found my sheep which was lost” (ver. 6). 
He needs to say no more, as they all knew perfectly what 
one sheep He meant, and had eagerly watched His search 
for it. 

Before we part, let me mention the lessons you should 
learn here :-— 

I. The value of one lost soul—God counts it worth all 
thai searching, and the saving of it worth all that joy. 
“Honour all men,” then. The most worthless being you 
ever met is worth more than all earth’s gold. Beneath a 
beggar’s rags lies a jewel more valuable than all that ever 
flashed on the brow of royalty, 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN, 71 


Il. The sinner’s grand encouragement.—Some gentlemen 
preach the gospel to the poor in London theatres, and one 
of them told me that they had to make it a printed rule 
of their society that no preacher should take his text from 
the fifteenth chapter of Luke. Every one of them, wish- 
ing to give great encouragement to great sinners, was 
somehow drawn to this chapter; and the people smiled as 
preacher after preacher began by reading the same verses. 
Here is the very marrow of the gospel. You do not need 
to make Christ willing. He is as willing to save you as 
the shepherd was to find his lost sheep, or the woman her 
lost coin. Your loss is His loss. It is His chosen work, 
His joy, to find you. Will He deny Himself this great 
joy? Can He wish you to perish? Why, then, do you 
stand afar off in doubt and trembling? It is His joy and 
glory that He “receiveth sinners.” It is as natural for 
Him to do it as it is for the shepherd to seek his lost 
sheep. 

Ill. The mark of heavenliness.—It is to sympathize with 
those who seek the lost, and to rejoice with them when 
the lost are found. God give you this spirit. 

J. WE. 


LVIII. Why children should come to Jesus. 
LUKE xvii. 16. “ But Jesus called them unto Him, and said, 
Suffer little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not ; 
Sor of such is the kingdom of God.” 


THE people who saw Jesus did not all love Him. Many 
loved Him, and those who were much with Him found 
Him more wonderful than any person that ever walked 
the earth. What things He said to them, speaking of 
heavenly things so simply, a child could understand! 

He talked of the little birds flitting by one day, and His 
words turned every chirping sparrow into a witness of. 
God’s care for us all. He talked of the flowers sprinkling 
the grass near where He sat, and His words made the 
lowliest of them blossoms of Paradise, silently teaching us 
all that we may reach beauty and glory by simple trust in 
the Lord. He spoke of the forgiveness of sins, and made 
# seem no small thing to ask God to forgive us. At the 


172 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


same time Jesus showed God so ready to forgive that 
He is like a shepherd going after a lost sheep, or a father 
watching for a returning son. 

While always talking of such serious things, Jesus in 
some way made children like to be near Him. The picture 
of the text is not filled out by the image of reluctant chil- 
dren urged on by their parents. We are right in thinking 
of some infants carried in their mothers’ arms and stretch- 
ing out their hands toward the Saviour, while older ones 
of various ages ran before their parents to come the sooner 
to Him whose person won their hearts before He spoke 
and said: “ Suffer the little children to come unto Me.” 

Jesus still calls. He wants the children of this genera. 
tion to trust Him and obey Him while they are in this 
world, and to be with Him in the better world, where He 
has prepared a place for all that love Him. 

I. The children of to-day should come to Jesus decause 
they need such a Teacher, Saviour, and Friend. 

I remember a company of blind children from an asylum 
waiting at the door of a church for some one from within 
to lead them to their place. Parents and teachers can lead 
a child to the door of a good life, but Jesus only can lead 
into goodness and heaven. 

Neither child, woman, or man is wise enough, or strong 
enough, to go through life safely alone. The largest 
company gathered anywhere in church or Sabbath school 
is like David’s flock. There came a lion and a bear and 
took a lamb out of the flock. Who could defend them ? 
They had no power to help one another against a lion and 
a bear. Then David, who was the shepherd, ran to their 
help. He risked his life for that lamb. He met the lion 
and slew him and the bear also. He brought back the 
lamb alive and safe. Were not the flock glad? Did they 
not from that time run to David whenever danger came 
near? 

The great tempter of souls is like a lion, and no one but 
Jesus is strong enough to meet him. Let every child, 
when tempted to do wrong, run unto Jesus, who has met 
this lion and risked His life for us and gained a great 
victory. 

Children need Jesus, too, as a Saviour from wicked 
things they have already done. Some of you boys have 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 173 


been known to swear and to cheat on the playground, and 
some of the girls have cheated the teacher on examination 
days, and talked spitefully about one another. You did 
not suppose the minister knew it. Very likely you would 
have kept back the word or the deed if you had known 
that he heard or saw you. Dear child, remember that 
God has heard every word and seen every act. Will He 
forgive these sins? Do you forgive and forget it when 
some one calls you bad names? Do you easily overlook 
it if some one gets above you or wins a game by cheating? 

How can any one who has done such things take the 
least comfort in saying “ Our Father, which art in heaven,” 
until he has first come to Jesus to be forgiven ? 

Without going into particulars about honouring father 
and mother, speaking the truth, loving others as your- 
selves, it is enough to say that God knows every wish, 
thought, and feeling, and sees in children’s hearts many 
wrong things that are hidden from their parents and 
teachers. Children should come to Jesus because they 
need forgiveness, which He alone can give. Every wrong 
deed, every bad wish, every pang of a troubled conscience 
is a fresh reason for coming to Jesus. 

II. Another very different reason why children, and little 
children, should come to Jesus is, that they are not so far 
from Him as those who have grown old in sin. We may 
say that every child is born close to heaven’s gate. How 
innocent and almost angel-like every infant looks when 
sleeping in its cradle or cooing on its mother’s lap! If a 
little child will take the hand of Jesus, it seems but a step 
into holiness and heaven. But every day of sin is a 
journey away and down from heaven’s gate. Some who 
are yet children have sinned so much already that it is for 
them a great way back to a good life. How much farther 
it will be for any of you if you do not come to Jesus now, 
but go on sinning another year! 

Children’s consciences are tender. Children’s hearts 
have fresh affections that turn to Jesus almost as readily 
as climbing plants in June wind about their proper sup- 
port. If those plants lie along the ground till August, 
they can hardly be made to climb at all so late in their 
life. Childhood is the time for the heart to begin clinging 
to Jesus. Those that come to Him then will entwine 


174 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


themselves closer and closer about Him to the end of 
life. 

III. Another reason for children coming to Jesus is Ws 
special love for them. There never was a shepherd boy 
that did not think more of the lambs than of the sheep. 
There never was a little girl who did not care more for her 
kitten than for the full-grown cat. The young animals are 
always the centre of interest in the farmer’s barn or field. 
And Jesus has a peculiar love for children. How many 
miracles He wrought for children! He healed a noble- 
man’s son witn a word, and cast out an evil spirit from 
the young daughter of a despised Syro-Phoenician woman. 
He came down from talking with Moses and Elijah on 
the Mount of Transfiguration to cure a lunatic boy. He 
raised from the dead the son of a widow at Nain, and 
brought back to life the daughter of Jairus. 

He gave also other marks of peculiar love for children. 
He once set a child in the midst of His disciples, and said 
to them: “ Except ye be converted and become as little chit- 
dren, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” He 
said of little children that “¢hetr angels do always behold 
the face of the Father in heaven.” Most beautiful of all is 
the story of the text. Jesus not only spoke the words, 
but He took the children in His arms, laid His hands on 
them and blessed them. 

Some one may ask at what age a child should come to 
Jesus. The word for little children is used of John the 
Baptist when He was an infant, and of the daughter of 
Jairus when she was twelve years old. So Jesus tells us 
not to forbid or hinder children of any age coming to Him. 
Josiah began to seek the God of David when eight years 
old. Timothy is said to have known the Holy Scriptures 
from infancy. And to-day many of the best Christian 
people cannot remember when they became Christians. 

Are you five years old? Jesus says you may come to 
Him. He will not turn you away to wait till you are 
older. Are you ten years old? You ought to have begun 
to love Jesus long ago. Are you fifteen, and have not yet 
given Jesus your heart? How many years you have lived 
without the happiness you might have had in the love of 
esus | 
: Have you not more than once been very much afraid 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 175 


when some stranger was coming to the house, from whom 
you thought you would rather hide yourself? Did it not 
sometimes turn out that the stranger was so kind and 
good and took such pains to give you pleasure, that you 
lost all fear and made friends with him, and danced with 
pleasure whenever you heard he was coming again? Do 
not be afraid of Jesus, but come to Him. He is strong to 
help you, and He is all kindness and goodness. He loves 
children with a special love. He will pardon all your sins 
and give you peace of conscience. He will be your very 
best friend for ever. 
W. C. W. 


LIX. The Lost Sinner and the Seeking Saviour. 
LUKE xix. 10. ‘“ For the Son of Man is come to seek and to 
save that whith was lost.” 


THE great mirror God makes use of is the Bible It is 
like a looking-glass in the dark till God’s good Spirit 
shines on it, and then we see ourselves as we never saw 
ourselves before. The word “lost” in this text is a truth- 
ful description of many of you. 

I. A SINNER Lost.—Many of you have seen a little 
card with three prayers on it: “Lord, show me myself. 
Lord, show me Thyself. Give me Thy Holy Spirit.” 
How do you expect to get an answer to the first? It will 
be by such a text as this, and the prayer is answered when 
you have discovered that you are a lost sinner. What is 
involved in being lost ? 

(1) l¢ zs to be without God.—I do not mean that you do 
not know about God. You all know God made you, and 
yet many of you have no God, and it would be all one to 
you if you were told there was no God. You would not 
feel, speak, or act differently than you now do. It is a sad 
thing to be an orphan, or to have no friends or no money, 
but it is far worse to have no God. In the fifteenth chapter 
of Luke we have a parable about a lost sheep. That is a 
picture of those who havenoGod. Thereis a God. There 
is no doubt about that. But is He yours? Can you go 
out at night when the stars begin to shine, and look up 
and say, “JZy God?” Would you dare do that? Any 
boy or girl who has no God is a lost child? 


176 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


(2) It ts to be without hope—What a bright and beautiful 
thing hope is. Hope is like the cork jackets sailors put on 
when going out in a life-boat. It keeps people’s spirits 
from sinking, and their hearts from breaking. A boy at 
the foot of his class does not break his heart about it. He 
hopes to be up to-morrow. <A young Frenchman is taken 
away to be a soldier, and he is bright and happy, for, he 
says, he hopes to be one day a marshal. A child is ill and 
weak, but smilingly says, ‘“‘ The doctor says I will be better 
soon, and I hope in a day or two to be well again.” I 
have seen people very ill who were blithe and cheery and 
genial. They were dying, but they had a hope, and knew 
that when their bodies were laid in their graves their souls 
would be in glory. 


“For hope will sing with courage bold, 
There’s glory on the morrow.” 


But if when you are ill the doctor comes and examines 
you, and in answer to your mother’s inquiry, shakes his 
head, that is enough for you. You say “I am afraid he 
has no hope.” A lost sinner has no hope. He has no 
hope of heaven, no hope of being with Jesus, no hope of 
joining his friends who are “not lost but gone before.” 

(3) lt zs to be in a state of bondage or slavery.— You know 
what a slave is. You have read about slavery in America. 
Sometimes we get into a state of bondage, and know it. 
A boy climbed a ladder and felt his way about in a dark 
loft, when suddenly there was a click, and his hand was 
fast in a rat trap. He cried out, and his friends came and 
found the little captive. Some of us are like that. We 
do something very bad, and in a moment conscience says, 
“You are caught; you are a slave.” But sometimes we 
do not know it. You have seen boys snaring birds on the 
snow in winter. It is only when they try to get away that 
they find they are captives. Many of us are like that. 
We think we are free and can do as we like, but our evil 
dispositions, our bad tempers, or our bad habits have got 
a hold of us and we only find it out when we try to get 
away from them. If any of you would allow me to twist 
a bit of silk thread round your hands, you would be my 
prisoner in a few minutes. That would be a picture of 
some of you who indulge your bad tempers, and give way 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 177 


to untruthfulness, and are prayerless and careless, and 
associate with bad companions, and are disobedient to 
your parents. What you could easily have burst asunder 
at the beginning now holds you like a vice; you area 
slave. Slaves are lost children. 

(4) It es to be under condemnation.— He that believeth 
not is condemned.” God says those who have not believed 
in the Lord Jesus and taken His way of salvation are 
condemned already. They are lying under sentence and 
only waiting the executioner. 

(5) Lt zs to be dead.—I met a lady in a cemetery, and she 
said to me, “I have lost my little daughter.” She meant 
she was dead. The two words are often used for each 
other. That is God’s description of a lost sinner. “This 
my son was dead . . . he was lost.” While you are 
unsaved you are dead in trespasses and sins. Dead people 
do not run away from danger. Your parents may have 
prayed with you, wept over you, pled with you, but all in 
vain; you are dead. I would God’s Holy Spirit would 
quicken you, and give you a look into this wonderful 
mirror, so that you might know what it is to be lost. 

II. THE SEEKING SAVIOUR.—He is here called by a 
very precious name, the Son of Man. He is God’s Son, 
but man’s Son as well, loving, sympathising, patient, per- 
severing, all that is good. He seeks the lost sinner. Some- 
times it is through a sermon, or a text, or family worship, 
or some book you are reading quietly, or a companion 
becoming anxious, or a friend taking ill or dying, or God’s 
hand laid on yourself. The Lord Jesus, the Good Shep- 
herd, the children’s Friend, is always seeking lost children, 
every day in the week and every week in the year, and, 
what is better, He is always finding lost children. That 
should be good news to some who have made the great 
discovery that they are lost. 

III. A SINNER SAVED.—When a lost sinner is saved, he 
has found a God ; he has a hope for time and for eternity ; 
he has been pardoned and is no longer under condem- 
nation ; he has liberty, the glorious liberty of the sons of 
God ; and he has life—* This my son was dead and is alive 
again.” 

J. H. W. 


278 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


LX. Abide with us. Luke xxiv. 29. “But they con. 
strained him, saying, Abide with us; for it is toward evening, 
and the day ts far spent.” 


THIS portion of Scripture records one of the eleven 
distinct appearances of our Lord after His resurrection. 
This is only alluded to in one verse by Mark. Let us 
glance at some of the leading points of this narrative and 
conclude with one or two lessons which it suggests. 

We read that on the day of the Resurrection, the great 
Easter Day, two of our Lord’s disciples were going to a 
little village called Emmaus. The name of, one, Cleopas, 
is given. Of him we do not know anything more than his 
name. Some think that the other was Nathanael, others, 
Peter, and many believe it was Luke. This last view 
seems most probable because I do not think that that 
last disciple could be the Apostle, because we are told that 
on their return they found the eleven Apostles gathered 
together. Therefore I think it most probable that this 
disciple was Luke. 

These two were journeying along the road to a little 
village about seven and a half miles from Jerusalem. 
These two disciples are as it were taking a quiet country 
walk; they are leaving a place where a great event has 
just occurred ; and they are full of sorrow. They are 
speaking doubtless of our Lord’s suffering, crucifixion and 
death. You know perhaps, my dear children, what a com- 
fort it is sometimes in times of sorrow or joy to open one’s 
heart to those whom we love. What a comfort it is, 
children, when we have a great joy to tell it to others; 
and what a comfort it is when we have a sorrow. And we 
are born to sorrow as the sparks fly upward. These two 
disciples had a great sorrow. They had seen their Lord 
and Master crucified ; as yet they knew not that He had 
risen. While they are thus communing together our 
blessed Lord joins them. They did not know Him, 
Mark says, “He appeared in another form.” Christ asks 
them the subject of their conversation and they tell Him, 
and they wonder at Him, who has been at Jerusalem, where 
the facts of our Lord’s death were so widely known, that 
He should ask them what these things were. And when 


f 
= 


{ 


18) \ 


% 


| 
RIN 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 179 


they had told Him their sorrow, our blessed Lord shows 
them that the very things which shook their faith that our 
Lord was the Messiah were the very things which proved 
that the Lord was the true Christ. And He began ex- 
pounding to them, beginning at Moses and the Prophets. 
Doubtless, children, our Lord began with the first book 
of the Bible—Genesis—where we have a prophecy how 
the Seed of the woman should overcome the serpent. 
And again He spoke of the paschal lamb, which was the 
type of the great Lamb of God; and then perhaps He 
spoke of the Good Shepherd and the Lamb that was led 
to the slaughter. And perhaps He spoke of Himself as 
the Lord of Righteousness and the Son of Man. You see 
that our Lord took all His thoughts from the Holy Scrip- 
tures, because that would impress these people, for they 
believed the Old Testament and would therefore believe 
this was the Christ. 

They came to the end of the journey and our Lord 
made as though He would go further on His way. 
They begged Him, they constrained—that is, urged—Him 
to abide with them, for, said they, “It is toward evening 
and the day is far spent.” And Christ tarried with them, 
and sat at meat with them, and He took bread and blessed 
it, and brake it before them. And there was, I think, 
something significant in the way in which He broke that 
bread, something perhaps which reminded them of that 
very great miracle, the feeding of the five thousand ; for 
we read that as soon as He had done this their eyes 
were opened, that is, they knew Him. Perhaps they had 
seen the print of the nails on His hands as He uplifted 
them to break the bread. Then He vanished out of their 
sight. 

Such is a short history of the journey of the disciples 
to Emmaus, and I want to bring home to you to-day, 
in the few moments left to me, just two lessons for you 
to think over. 

First of all, I would ‘dwell for a moment upon that 
expression, “ They constrained Him.” These two disciples 
pressed our Lord not to go on His journey—they con- 
strained Him. Our Lord likes to be entreated by His 
people. He wanted to see perhaps if these disciples were 
weary of Him. In Old Testament history we read that 


180 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


Abraham said, “ Pass not away, I pray thee, from my sight ; 
and we read that Gideon said to the angel, “ Depart not 
hence, I pray thee.” Now these words, “I pray thee,” 
show that God loves to be entreated by His people; that 
those who would have much must ask much. 

Again, notice that we see in our text that our Lord 
loves to try our faith He made as though He would 
go further, to see if they would press Him. And they 
constrained Him. In Old Testament history we see that 
God dwelt with Jacob when He would not let God go 
until He blessed him. You remember the Canaanitish 
mother, who got through the crowd, and it was not until a 
third time that Christ answered her request. Again, He 
dealt so with the man at Capernaum; and this proves 
that Christ loves to be entreated. 

Remember this in your prayers—Christ loves to be 
entreated, Christ loves to be entreated. Let us not be like 
the Jewish king of old, who smote three times on the 
ground and then stopped. Pray, in the words of our text, 
“ Abide with us.” Does not this remind us of that hymn,— 


‘ Abide with me, fast falls the eventide, 
The darkness deepens, Lord, with me abide.” 


Dear children, may all of you in your young age pray to 
Christ, “ Abide with me;” and if it pleases God to spare 
you to grow up, let that still be your prayer; and when 
you get to old age you can look back and say, “In life as 
this has been my prayer, may it be also in death—‘O 
Lord, abide with me.’” 

J. W. 


LXI. Behold the Lamb of God. Joun i. 29. 
“ Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the 
world,” : 


IF any of you are expecting to find happiness in the 
things of a present world, you are mistaken. You will 
never find happiness till you know the Lamb of God. If 
you are trying to be happy in any other way, you may try 
on, but you will be disappointed. There is a story about 
an Indian nurse who came home with a lady to this 
country. One morning she looked out of the window, and 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 181 


the snow had been falling till it covered all the branches 
of a tree opposite the window, and she said, “Oh, how 
beautiful it is!” and then, “Oh, how soft it is! I will 
take some of this home to my own country, and show this 
beautiful thing to my friends at Calcutta.” So she gathered 
some of the branches, and put what she had gathered into 
her trunk. You smile at this, because you know that it 
would be all gone before night. Well, that is just like the 
happiness you expect from the things of this present world. 
It looks very fine and beautiful, but just wait awhile, and 
where is it? You will never be happy till you know the 
Lamb of God. 

And then, if any of you are trying to get the better of 
your bad temper and sins without having first come to 
Christ, it will be a total failure. You may resolve, but 
you will break your resolutions; you may promise, but 
you will break your promises. The great preacher, Mr. 
Spurgeon, says he was once reading a book at a window. 
He saw a fly on the window, and he tried to sweep it 
away with his hand, but the fly was there still. He made 
another attempt, did the same thing over again, and the 
fly was just where it was ; and he then found that the fly 
was on the other side of the pane. Now, if you try to 
wipe away sin out of your heart—if you try to get the 
better of your corruptions in your own strength, without 
first coming to the Lamb of God—you are trying on the 
wrong side, it will be an utter failure. You can neither be 
happy nor holy till you come to the Lamb of God. 

I want to speak to you first of all about the preacher 
mentioned in the text—this man John; then I want to 
tell you about the crowds that came to hear him; and then 
I want to tell you about Azs famous sermon. 

First, about the preacher. His name was John. His 
father’s name was Zacharias, and his mother’s name 
Elisabeth,—two of the best people that lived in Judea in 
those days. In after days he was called John the Baptist, 
to distinguish him from another John—John the Apostle. 
How he got that curious name was this: God revealed to 
him, in a way not mentioned to us, that this was to be his 
employment when he grew up to a certain age—he was 
to go and preach, and, along with his preaching, he was 
to baptize people with water. Well, with this in prospect, 


182 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


you can easily understand that he would be trying to get 
an education that would fit him for that. But he never 
went to school or college. He was the son of a priest, but 
he did not go to the Levites to be taught. He was in the 
deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel. The deserts 
were places where there were no rows of houses. There 
might be a cottage here and there; but there were miles 
of pasture ground where the sheep fed, but where there 
were no villages and no clusters of people. There he 
lived, going up and down there; and often you would 
have found him under some shady fig-tree, reading the 
five books of Moses, the books of the Prophets, and singing 
the Book of Psalms very likely, and the Song of Solomon. 
No doubt you would find him singing there with all his 
heart. He was brought up in the study of God’s word, 
and under that fig-tree you would find him in prayer. It 
is told in the history of the Covenanters, that one of the 
young martyrs, Hugh Mackail, before he became a preacher, 
expecting terrible days of persecution, used to go to the 
sheep-farms and live among the shepherds for weeks at 
a time, praying and reading the word of God, to fit him 
for the storm that was coming. And so young John the 
Baptist was fitted for all his difficult work in the way I 
have told you of. 

In the countries where there are priests, they wear a 
dress of their own, different from other people. But when 
John the Baptist came to preach, he wore a garment of 
camel’s hair,—a very lasting kind of garment, but with no 
beauty in it, and rather coarse. About his waist he had 
a girdle. In the East you will see some splendid girdles ; 
people that have plenty of money make them glitter with 
silver, and sometimes with gold. John the Baptist was 
content with a plain girdle of leather. And what about 
his food? Some of you are far more particular about 
your food than he was. He made no grumble about poor 
fare. He gathered locusts, took off their wings, kneaded 
them into a sort of cake, and ate them. And he gathered 
wild honey from the places where the bees deposited it,— 
sometimes in the trunk of a tree, sometimes in the crevice 
of arock. He was not caring about meat and drink and 
dress, What took away his anxiety about this? It was 
this,—he had a consuming desire to glorify God and to 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 183 


win souls to Christ ; and, full of this, he forgot everything 
else. 

A very extraordinary thing about him was, that though 
great crowds gathered round him, he never preached in 
towns. We like to go where there are plenty of people. 
But John the Baptist went to the pasturing grounds where 
the shepherds were. He began to preach to the shepherds. 
He preached to a few at first, and they told others that 
they had heard an extraordinary young man; and then all 
the shepherds and their wives and their children came, and 
a little crowd gathered round him in the desert. And 
then when the shepherds went to the markets, they told 
the people in Bethlehem and Hebron and Jerusalem, and 
more people came to hear him. He never went to Jeru- 
salem or to any great town, but he stood in the desert and 
the people came to him. The Holy Spirit was poured 
upon the people, and they went out of their houses with 
an extraordinary desire to hear what he was preaching 
about. 

And another thing about him is this, that there was 
never a preacher who did so much work in so short a time. 
Constantly you find something in the Gospels about the 
Baptist, and yet he only preached six months, and then 
was cast into prison. But in that six months’ time he had 
shaken the whole country. When God’s Spirit is poured 
out, a short time is enough to accomplish a great work. 

Another striking thing is that John was more than a 
year in prison, and he died a very sudden death. You 
know the terrible story, how the daughter of Herodias 
‘danced and pleased Herod, and what came of her dancing, 
and how the mother rejoiced over the head of the Baptist 
because that tongue that reproved her sins was now silent 
in death. 

But yet Jesus says, that of all the prophets born of 
woman there never was a greater than John the Baptist. 
We must learn that it does not greatly matter what kind 
of death we die—it is the life we live that concerns us. 
John Newton was once talking to a friend who told him 
of the death of some one, and another friend said, “How 
did he die?” “There isa more important question than 
that,” said Newton ; “ How did he live?” John had very 
large congregations—all Jerusalem went out to hear him 


184 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


There were were simple shepherds and learned Pharisees 
and Sadducees and Levites, and there were Herod’s 
soldiers asking him questions. But while there were many 
hearers, there was just one way of salvation for them all. 
“Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of — 
the world.” This was John’s sermon. It was always in 
his mouth now that Christ had come among them. 
Some say John was a terrible preacher. He did some-— 
times preach terrible sermons, and every minister that © 
preaches all God’s truth sometimes preaches terrible 
sermons. But John’s work was to be a forerunner and 
to point to Christ; and this sermon, “Behold the Lamb 
of God!” really describes the strain of John’s preaching. 
And when he preached such things to the Pharisees, 
speaking of them as a generation of vipers, it was just in 
order that he might send them to the Saviour. A lamb 
is a very gentle creature ; but that is not the real meaning 
of “The Lamb of God.” A lamb is one thing; the Lamb 
of God is another. God’s Lamb means the Lamb of God’s 
sacrifice. For 1500 years among the people of Israel, 
except a short gap in their history, every morning about 
nine o'clock, and every afternoon before the sun set, a 
lamb was slain upon the altar. Only think how many 
were slain, when twice a day, and on Sabbath a great deal © 
oftener, a lamb was slain; and at other times I cannot tell 
how much oftener. All this was to be a picture of Him 
that was to come,—a picture of the Lamb of God, Jesus 
Christ, of whom the paschal lamb spoke, of whom Isaiah 
spoke. With all this before him, John says, “There is the 
Lamb of God ;” when Christ came in sight, he said to his 
hearers, “There is the Lamb of God, the real sacrifice for 
sin; come and behold Him.” Now we point out Christ to 
you in this way. Here is the true sacrifice for sin, the 
only sacrifice for sin. God sent Him, and God accepts 
Him. He taketh away the sin of the world. Now you 
are not to make the mistake of some people, who say He 
has taken away the sin of the world. The text does not 
say that ; it says, He takes it away. Never believe people 
that tell you that He has taken away the world’s sins. 
He has not done that. Do not believe people that say He 
has paid the world’s debt. He has not paid it; but He 
does pay the debt of all that come to Him. The meaning 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 185 


_ of the “taketh away the sin of the world” is, that it is His 


office and employment to take away sin. Every sinner, 
young and old, that comes, is sure to find Him ready to 
take away their sin, for it is His very work. Good Thomas 


Boston says: “He is like the physician in a regiment. 


He does not give physic to all the regiment,—perhaps 
they are not ill,—but he is the one to do it; he is the one 
they are to come to if they are sick, and there is no other.” 
So Jesus is our Physician, our Saviour, whose office it is to 
take away the sin of the world. Will you come, and, like 
Abel in early days, lay your hand on this Lamb of God, 
and look up to the Father and say, “ Accept me in Jesus”? 
Is it not a fine hymn, that— 


“Gentle, holy Jesus, without a spot or stain, 
By wicked hands was taken, and crucified and slain. 
Look, iook, if you can bear it, look at your dying Lord ; 
Stand near the cross and watch Him,—Behold the Lamb of God! 


“He has become our Surety, and what we could not pay 
On the cross He paid it for us, on that great and dreadful day. 
Oh, wonderful redemption ! God’s remedy for sin, 
The door of heaven is opened, and you may enter in.” 


“Behold the Lamb!” That time mentioned in the thirty- 
fifth verse, when John the Baptist preached this sermon 
over again, two of his disciples followed Jesus. One of the 
two that night got well acquainted with Jesus Christ, and 
became the man that lay upon Christ’s bosom—John the 
Apostle. And John the Apostle is so fond of speaking 
about the Lamb of God, that about thirty times in the 
Book of the Revelation he speaks of Him by that name; 
he seems to be never tired of the name by which he first 
knew Him. 

We have no way but one of escaping from the wrath 
to come; not a man, woman, or child can enter into 
heaven but by being washed in the blood of the Lamb. 
Are you washed? Have you accepted the Lamb of God, 
who is the Saviour of all sinners ? 

AAB 


186 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


LXII. Nathanael. Joun i. 48 “ When thou wast under 
the fig tree, I saw thee.” 


“EVEN a child is known by his doings.” If children 
pray we know that they are Christian children. If they 
do not pray, we know that they are living “without God 
in the world.” The beating of the pulse is the best and 
surest sign of life, it settles the matter without a coroner’s 
inquest ; and so the desire to pray is the best and surest 
sign that our souls are alive. Those who never pray are 
like swans which have let their legs be tied and their wings 
be cut, and then drift helplessly down the river towards 
the Channel. Still they might be rescued if they would 
but cry out; but no, they float along, dumb as the fish 
beneath them, and they will continue to do so till the 
sharks drag them under and they perish. 

But now, what is it to pray ? for the heathen and Papists 
pray, after a fashion, and if earnestness and endless re- 
petitions went for anything, their prayers sometimes would 
be models, for they will sit repeating them by the hour, 
and that often with the most affecting lamentations. Our 
missionaries say that there are few things more touching 
than to see the Jews praying “at the place of wailing,” 
before a part of the old wall of Solomon’s Temple in 
Jerusalem. If vehemence of grief could obtain them a 
hearing, God would not turn a deaf ear to them. 

It may be that in studying the text we shall get to 
understand what it is to pray effectually. There we 
are shown a man named Nathanael, “an Israelite indeed, 
in whom was no guile,” sheltered from the sun’s heat and 
from human gaze beneath the spreading foliage of a fig- 
tree. And what is he doing there? We cannot doubt 
that he was holding communion with God,—praying over 
the promises of that Blessed One “of whom Moses and 
the prophets did write,’—asking God to fulfil them now, 
and show him “His salvation.” And what happened ? 
His prayer was granted. His friend Philip was sent to say 
to him, “we have found Him, He is here with us, Jesus 
of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael hesitated, 
for Nazareth was a notoriously wicked city; but [Ihilip 
persuaded him. They went together to Christ. Christ 
received him graciously, described his character, reminded 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 187 


him of the fig-tree, assured him of still greater privileges, 
and made him an Apostle. 

O sacred fig-tree, where in silence seeds were sown 
which soon produced such a golden sheaf! But let us 
observe from it :— 

I. That God is present everywhere. 

We are apt to confine him to heaven, or to our churches 
and chapels. But this is a mistake; His presence fills 
space. There is not a corner so obscure that the worker 
of iniquity can hide himself from Him. He is at the side 
of each little coral insect in the ocean’s bed, to keep it in 
health and activity ; and of each little sparrow that chirps 
on our eaves, to feed it and mark its fall. He saw Nathan- 
ael under the fig-tree as plainly as He would have seen 
him in the Temple. He saw Adam and Eve when they 
sought to conceal themselves amongst the trees of Eden. 
He saw Abraham on the mount, so that, at the exact mo- 
ment when he was about to dart down the knife and bury 
it in Isaac’s breast, He stopped him. He saw Hagar in 
the wilderness when she kissed Ishmael and laid him down 
to die, and the poor lad moaned aloud in his agony of 
thirst. Then the Lord opened her eyes and she saw a well 
of water. He saw Elijah in the lonely cave, and startled 
him with the question, “What dost thou here Elijah?” 
He saw Peter asleep in the inner dungeon, and Paul 
tossing about in the awful darkness and confusion of that 
tempest in which he was wrecked off the coast of Malta, 
and visited both of them. That was the groof that He 
saw them. Whither, then, shall we flee from Him? Echo 
answers, Whither? By His Spirit He is as truly with us 
as He is with the glorified saints. A general-in-chief need 
not be visible with a dozen armies which he directs. By 
means of telegraph wires connecting his head-quarters 
with them he is virtually with them, though absent in the 
flesh. We have thousands of nerves in our bodies, but 
they so report whatever they feel to the brain, that the 
brain is in intimate union with the whole frame. But 
God Himself is really close by us; in Him we live, and 
move, and have our being. We sleep under His shadow; 
we eat and drink before Him; we draw our breath out of 
His hand; our thoughts no less than our acts are naked 
and open to His sight. 


188 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


This is to be remembered—and when we remember it, 
shall we not fear the Lord, and rejoice before Him with 
trembling ? 

II. God especially ene us when we are on our knees. 

This was what He would convince Nathanael of,—that as 
he was engaged in prayer under the fig-tree, of course He 
had beheld him. To pray is to seek God’s face; and 
when will that face be turned beamingly upon us if not 
then? Mark how He had noticed that new thing in the 
converted Saul of Tarsus,—‘“ Beho/d he prayeth.” He may 
seem not to attend to us for a while, as He tried the faith 
of the Syro-Phoenician woman. There she was, suppli- 
cating, but He made as though He saw her not; she might 
as well have been at the feet of a wooden idol. But it 
was only for a while ; then He looked lovingly at her, and 
praised her, and bid her have what she would. Daniel 
was entreating God to tell Him when the Babylonish cap- 
tivity would end and his nation be restored. How soon 
he was satisfied that God saw him there! suddenly, ere he 
had left off pleading, Gabriel stood shining before him 
straight from God with the wished-for message. 

If we recollect these and other similar instances, they 
will encourage us in our prayers. We do not speak to 
ourselves when we pray, or whisper to a God who may be 
absent, “ pursuing, or on a journey, or must be awakened 
from his slumbers;” we address ourselves to Him who 
is certainly bending over us, who certainly is aware of our 
errand, who certainly will be conscious of our faults if we 
are hurried, or drowsy, or hypocritical, and who certainly 
will be conscious of our endeavours, if we resolutely fight 
against these, and press through to His throne. An 
African lad was laughed at for his solemnity when he 
prayed. What did hesay? “I was talking to Him who 
shed His precious blood for me on the cross! I felt that 
He was searching me through, and I could not trifle.” 

Ill. We should have a particular spot where we can resort 
for prayer. 

Nathanael’s was a fig-tree; Jacob’s was an altar, which 
he set up wherever he journeyed; our Lord’s was either 
a mountain or the garden of Gethsemane. He withdrew 
Himself from the multitudes, and retired there as to His 
closet. Therefore He says to us, “Enter into thy closed, 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 189 


and shut the door, and pray to thy Father which is in 
secret.” The thrushes in our fields have a chosen branch 
on which they continually perch for their morning and 
evening songs. It is said of Washington that, when en- 
camped in the woods, he always reserved to himself a 
thicket where he could have his devotions undisturbed. 
And Bishop Leighton frequented a grove in a public park 
in Ireland, and at last it was left entirely to him as if it 
was his own property. You may have read the story of 
the “ Path to the Bush;” the beaten track through the 
forest to the “praying huts” of the native converts, and 
the faithful girl hinting to her sister that the gvass was 
growzng in her path to the bush, 
Ah! have not some of us particular spots hallowed by 
such associations? They may now be far back in the 
distance of years, but we don’t forget them. We may be 
removed from them hundreds of miles, but there they are, 
green and fresh in memory,—the scented arbour, the quiet 
lane, the leafy forest, the old ruin, the ship cabin. Secure 
to yourself a “sanctuary.” It may be difficult to obtain 
it in a small and busy dwelling, but there must be oppor- 
tunities despite disadvantages, where the “wzd/” will hit 
upon the “ way.” The starling will discover a hole for her 
nest when the nesting season arrives, or will bore it for 
herself if she can’t; and the timid hare will discover a 
lair for herself on the barest common, or scratch it for 
herself if she can’t. 

Lastly, God will honour those who do thus pray to Him. 

Nathanael prayed to Him under the fig-tree. Jesus 
rewarded him before his fellow-disciples. He put, as it 
were, a crown of pure gold upon his head. He declared 
that he should be a witness of His glory in His kingdom. 

The pearl is formed in an oyster at the bottom of the 
ocean amongst crabs and bleached bones, but its beauty 
causes it to be dived for and fetched up, and set in a royal 
diadem. So those who have fellowship with God in soli- 
tude are adorned and prepared for God’s service, and by- 
and-by He will call them to it. Esau could not have 
guessed how it was that his brother conquered him with 
kindness so easily. Hehad not seen him wrestling with 
God by the brook the night before. Nehemiah wanted 
Artaxerxes to grant him a favour; before he commenced 


190 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


his request, as he was offering him the wine-cup, he lifted 
up his heart in prayer to God, and at once the monarch 
was melted, and he ordered Nehemiah to do whatever 
he chose. We have a glimpse of Jesus praying at His 
transfiguration, and it was “as He prayed” that His 
countenance became radiant with celestial lustre. That 
penitent who crept into Simon’s banquet-hall to the Lord, 
and used her tears for a bath and her hair for a towel 
in her adoration of Him, she did it “under the fig-tree,” 
saying nothing, nothing said to her; but presently the 
“honour” was bestowed on her to Simon’s shame, and 
then followed the “Go in peace, thou art forgiven.” 

A soldier as he was carried wounded from a battle, said 
so frequently, “Thank God, thank God,” that his com- 
panions enquired what he meant: he replied, “ Why, be- 
fore I went into action I prayed that I might do my duty, 
and not be afraid of death; and God upheld me so that 
I bore the flag bravely, and I ¢hank Him for it.” Have 
you never had your prayers turned into comforts in hours 
of trouble,—into pillows when you were sick, into staffs 
when you were weary, into manna when you were hungry, 
into music when you were sad ? 

And it would be singular if it were not so, for prayer is 
just putting yourself into connection with God’s bounty 
and tenderness; and then it will be administered to us 
according to our “several necessities.” If you plant a vine 
by a southern wall in a rich ground, you expect that it 
will thrive, for God undertakes the rest,—the nourishing 
and cherishing it, the supplying it with dew and showers. 
and what its roots can absorb. 

Now, be cheered on to pray.—Much in prayer, you are as 
Noah within the ark. The flood may surround you but it 
shall not harm you, and on it you shall ride triumphantly 
over all the temptations and trials which beset us here, 
till it land you in the home in the skies. 

Be warned against neglecting prayer.—You cannot do it 
and escape; for then you wander about exposed to every 
fiery dart, you have no armour on yourself, no Divine shield 
covering you. It will be marvellous if you can continue 
to “restrain prayer” and not suffer for it, for to pray is a 
command, and those who do not pray pour contempt upon 


it, and “they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.” 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 191 


There is the “ fig-tree” waiting for you; hasten under it, 
and nothing in heaven will be sweeter to you than that 
word of the Lord ‘“‘ When thou wast under the fig-tree J 
saw thee,” 

J. B. 


LXIII. The Pool of Bethesda. Joun v. 1-16. 


I WOULD like to notice just the real facts about this pool. 
It seems that through some cause at certain, or rather 
uncertain, periods there was some bubbling up of the 
waters—probably by some subterranean fissure or escape 
of gas—and at these times the pool was thought to have 
power to cure various forms of disease. This belief was 
very prevalent, and exists to this day. Some of the 
things in nature, which we consider are brought about by 
natural causes, such, for instance, as the medical virtues 
of this water, were accounted for by a messenger from God, 
an angel, who caused acommotion in the water. There 
was a marginal note in John which some one thought was 
in the original, and thus it came to be inserted in our 
Bible. In the Revised Version you will see these words 
are left out, because they had got in accidentally. We 
read in the New Version, “ Now there is in Jerusalem by 
the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, 
having five porches. In these lay a multitude of them 
that were sick, blind, halt, withered.” Then there is a 
marginal note about the angel of the Lord troubling the 
water. But these words are struck out of the text, and 
are only used to explain the belief of the Jews as to the 
supposed virtues of the pool. 

Well, our Lord was always going about seeking to do 
good, and it was a natural place for Him to be found here. 
This man mentioned by John demanded special pity. 
You know, children, there are to be found in every great 
town—in London, for instance—people who have not been 
out of their beds for a great many years more than 
you have been in the world altogether. These poor in- 
valids have been sick and confined to their beds for many 
years. Sometimes these poor people have been kept in 


theis beds, by God's providence, for twenty, thirty, or forty 


192 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


years. The man spoken of in the text was not confined 
to the house, because out of doors the air was warm and 
balmy, and he could lie on his mat. 

There was something almost touching in the great hope- 
fulness with which this man year after year lay where he 
thought some day he could get to the water; and our 
Lord knew—as He knows the troubles and hopes and 
fears of all men—the hope deferred which makes the heart 
sick of that poor man, and had pity on him, and undertook 
to cure him, if he had confidence to expect a cure. And 
the words, “Wilt thou be made whole?” uttered by Jesus, 
seem to suggest to the man that he should look rather 
to the speaker than to the medicinal waters for help. He 
was a true angel indeed, though not the angel of the Lord 
expected by the people to trouble the water. 

But you will observe that the importance of this story, 
and the reason for which John has told it, is not the cure 
of the man—for this was not more wonderful than many 
others Christ did—but to show the hatred it brought 
against the Lord by the Jewish priests. The complaint 
brought by the priests against our Saviour was that He 
had broken the Sabbath; and this led to the persecution 
against Him, not only in the capital city of Jerusalem, but 
in the whole province of Judea. This is very important, 
because it was the beginning of the persecution which 
culminated in our Lord’s crucifixion. 

And our Lord gives us the true idea of that holy day, 
for He says it was given for the good of man, to be a 
benefit to the body and soul of all men—but to their 
bodies and souls alike ; and whatever benefits the bodies 
and souls of men is not breaking the Sabbath. The 
Sabbath is to be kept in spirit, and for the purposes for 
which it was given. Works simply for personal gain, for 
the prosecution of our secular business—these are to be 
done as little as possible. But there are some kinds of 
work which must go on on the Sabbath—but works of 
personal gain are to be done as little as possible on that 
holy day. The-works of charity, works of kindness, works 
which do good to the bodies and souls of men—these are 
to be done as much as possible. Instead of complaining 
and finding fault with them, as these captious and trouble- 
some Jews did, Jesus teaches us that we are to do them 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 193 


_as much as possible, and never to be weary in good works. 
May He give us the wisdom and power that we may both 
know and do them. 

J. O. D. 


LXIV. The Lad andthe Hungry Multitude. Joxun 
vi.g9. “ There ts a lad here which hath five barley loaves and 
two fishes, but what are they among so many #” 


As we read over the story of the way Jesus fed the five 
thousand, we cannot help wondering how this little boy 
came to be in the great company. Here was a crowd 
of people who had left their homes and sought out the 
Saviour that they might hear more of His gracious words. 
And yet, without much forethought, they had, it seems, 
brought no lunch or food with them ; so that the question 
arose, How shall they be fed? Two hundred pennyworth 
of bread (about six pounds five shillings’ worth), says 
Philip, one of Christ’s disciples, would not be sufficient. 
Another disciple, Andrew by name, ventured the rather 
strange suggestion that there was a lad present who had 
five loaves of coarse barley bread, such as the poor people 
in that country used to eat, and two small fishes, probably 
caught in the lake near by. He evidently thought it was 
a circumstance hardly worth mentioning, for he immedi- 
ately adds, “but what are they among so many?” Well, 
Andrew was wiser than he seemed, for, as the narrative 
tells us, this little which the lad had, as blest and used by 
Jesus, was sufficient to feed five thousand people. So, as 
a matter of fact, it was what this unknown boy had which 
really furnished the dinner for this hungry multitude. 
From this little bit of Gospel history we may learn: 

I. The interest a boy can have in Fesus—This lad was 
undoubtedly desirous of hearing and seeing Christ. He 
may have heard his parents or acquaintances tell about 
the wonderful things the Saviour did, and, boy-like, he 
probably made up his mind that, when an opportunity 
came, he would go where He was, and look and listen. 
There was evidently something about Jesus that interested 
little people. We know that He loved them, and if He 
loved them He would be apt to talk to them in a way 
to please and do them good. Children always are quick to 


194 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


find out those friendly to them. And wherever Christ 
preached, He generally had boys and girls present in the 
congregations that gathered about Him. I think Christ 
spoke in a way to interest the young. He could tell them 
how to overcome their faults, and could help them in their 
efforts to live kind and dutiful lives. It was a great treat 
for this boy to hear what Christ had to say, and I presume 
it led him to resolve to try harder than ever to live as 
Jesus would have him. 

II, Another lesson taught us is the use Jesus can make 
of even a boy.—No one in this multitude, it seems, except 
this lad, brought anything to eat. Whether this was a 
lunch his parents put up for him, or what he brought along 
with him to sell, we do not know; but we are greatly in- 
terested in seeing how useful he became. The fact that he 
had the loaves and fishes is mentioned to Christ by one 
who seemed almost ashamed afterwards that he said any- 
thing about it. Jesus, however, did not consider it of no 
importance. For He called the boy to Him, and then 
took what he had, and made his few loaves and fishes 
answer for the wants of all. It must have made the lad 
feel happy that Christ thus took notice of him, and made 
use of what he had brought with him. Nor could any one 
have been more astonished than the boy himself to see 
how those loaves and fishes lasted. Christ can use chil- 
dren if they are willing, and sometimes they have been of 
great service. He can use their gifts, whether they be the 
pennies which they have earned, or some piece of handi- 
work they have made. None are too young to serve 
Jesus, and such have often been employed by Him to 
accomplish good. 

III. And then we also learn that zt zs always best to keep 
zn good company.—This boy would have missed a great 
deal if he had not gone out that day to see Jesus. If he 
had given himself up to having some fun with his com- 
rades he would not have been honoured as he was by 
Christ. There is a time appropriate for everything. And 
the secret of a happy, useful life is, be careful as to what 
you get interested in. Boys ought to find that which will 
benefit them in going to church and Sabbath school. If 
this boy had told his mates that he was going to hear 
the wonderful Teacher, whose fame was filling the whole 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 195 


country, they might have ridiculed him and tried to per- 
suade him to go with them; but by bravely following out 
his purpose to see and hear for himself, he not only was 
gratified therein, but was noticed and used by Jesus. I 
think that proved to be the most noteworthy day in his 
life. What he heard and what happened to him at this 
time he could never have forgotten, and it probably in- 
fluenced him as long as he lived. He may have become 
a follower of Jesus from that day, and a preacher of the 
Gospel to others when he grew up to be a man. 
M. G. D. 


LXV. The Bread of Life. Joun vi. 41-58. 


THE passage is a difficult one for all to understand, and 
it is especially difficult therefore for children to understand. 
It was found to be very difficult by those who heard it, 
and it is not surprising therefore that you have a difficulty 
in comprehending the meaning of the passage. The Jews 
who heard it, however, did not have the same difficulty as 
you. They did not, I think, find much difficulty when our 
Lord said: “I am Bread, you must feed on Me.” But 
when He said: “I am the bread which came down from 
heaven,” they did not understand it. They saw Him a 
living man before them. They did not know two things 
about Him which we know. 

And what were the two things they did not know about 
Him? They did not know He came down from heaven, 
and was born ina different way from other men. And 
they did not know that in a few months He was going 
back to heaven. We know these two things. We know 
that there was something very peculiar in the way He 
came into the world, and the way in which He went out 
of the world. 

We do not, however, so easily understand Jesus saying : 
“Tam Bread, and you must eat Me;” and the reason is, 
that the Jews lived in the East, where men talk much 
more in figures than we do. We speak-in plain matter 
of fact words, and do not try to convey our meaning in 
picture words. I have spoken, boys and girls, about 
picture words, and we must try to understand these in our 
reading about the Bible. You must try to set the key to 


196 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


these picture words. I think you will find the key to this 
picture about bread in the 57th verse. “He that eateth 
Me, even he shall live by Me.” Just let us think of this. 

You know all over the world there are animals preying 
upon one another. The lion springs upon the small 
animal, the eagle swoops down upon the small bird, and 
men live upon sheep and oxen to support their own lives. 
We do this every day. We take the life of the corn and 
vegetables ; otherwise they would continue to grow and 
produce other plants. We take the corn and the fruit 
and destroy them that we may live upon them. 

So you see he that eateth anything lives by it. Our 
Lord, when He says “You must eat Me,” does He not 
mean, “You must live by Me”? “You must get a life 
from Me which you cannot have without Me”? So when 
our Lord speaks in this picture language it seems to mean 
that there is some kind of life about us which we cannot 
have unless we get it from Jesus. The young children I 
think can tell me what this life is; the life of goodness, 
the life of love, the pure life, the holy life which we get 
from Jesus when we get near to Him and trust Him as 
our loving Saviour, when we take His words and His 
example and His cross to our hearts, and ask for His spirit 
to live in us. 

Then we get from Him—what? A holy life. We get 
to love goodness, and God who is goodness. We get to 
love purity, and truth, and virtue, and gentleness, and 
graciousness. We get to possess these things, to be gentle 
and praying and noble; and all that beautiful and holy 
life which is the life of Jesus comes into us. And He calis 
that “eating” Him, dealing with Him, making Him the 
very support and food of our soul’s life, just as you make 
the food on your tables your bodies’ support. 

You see it is not so difficult, but it is very precious to 
know. It is beautiful to think we can get God's life pro- 
duced in us, in our poor sinful human lives, if we will only 
take Him in and feed on Him. If we come to feed on 
Jesus in this way every day we shall come to be like Him 
May God grant this for His mercy’s sake. 

J. O. D, 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 197 


LXVI. The Bread of Life. JoHN vi 51. “Jam the 
Living bread which came down from heaven.” 


CHRIST is the Living Bread, the Bread of Life, the 
Bread of God, the Bread which came down from heaven. 
Keep these words in mind for they contain the whole 
Gospel, “I am the Bread of Life.” These words from 
Christ’s own lips have been sounding in our world for 
eighteen hundred years. This has been God’s message, 
Christ’s message, the Holy Spirit’s message to our world. 

I. The soul ts hungry—You know what bodily hunger 
is. But the soul is hungry; it feels a want; it does not 
know what the want is. We come into the world with an 
empty heart, a heart without God. We try to get this 
hunger satisfied, or we try to forget it. 

And what has made us hungry? Is there any hunger in 
heaven? None. Up yonder there shall be hunger no 
more. But there is hunger here. Sin has made us hungry. 
Until we get quit of sin we shall never cease to be hungry. 
There are many things connected with us that increase the 
hunger, but that is the main thing. It is sin that has 
emptied us of God—that makes us cry, “Who will show 
us any good?”—that makes us go from once place and 
person to another, saying, “Give me something to eat, for 
I am hungry, hungry.” There are many who know what 
this hunger is, but yet they do not know it rightly. They 
wonder they are not happy. The reason is, God has not 
filled their hearts. If He had, they would cease to be 
hungry. 

Il. This world has no food in it—You may go all round 
the world, and you will get no food for the soul. Is there 
food for the soul in heaven? Yes; but we are not in 
heaven. Men, in various ways, try to get their hunger 
satisfied. Some say, If I had only enough of money, I 
think my hunger would cease. Others think if they had 
their fill of pleasure, their hunger would cease. The 
theatre, dancing, mirth, will that make a man not hungry? 
No; not one of these; the man is hungry still, for there is 
nothing here that can fill the soul. The prodigal tried to 
get quit of his hunger by eating—/usks. Will husks feed 
us? No. The second thing is—ashes (Isa. xliv. 20). Here 
is another, something worse than ashes—wixd (Hosea 


198 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


xii. 1). That is a strange thing to feed upon. There is 
another thing still worse than all that. What do you think 
itis? Weare told about it in Prov. xv. 14: “The mouth 
of fools feedeth on—/foolishness.” Now, here are four things 
the Bible says we try to feed our hunger upon. Remember 
these four things. These are the things men are trying to 
feed upon, and it won’t do. Their soul is just as empty as 
ever, for it is a hungry world. Did you not hear, some 
years ago, about the siege of Paris by the Germans? It 
was an awiful time. The people were starving; for the 
German armies were all round about the city, and they 
could not get food. They fed upon all the animals they 
could get hold of, for the whole city was hungry. What 
Paris was in that siege, the world is now. It isa hungry 
world, and there is nothing to feed upon here. You may 
go from end to end of the world, north, south, east, and 
west, and you will find nothing to feed the soul. 

It is not a wrong thing for you to be merry and to play, 
there is nothing wrong in that. But will that fill your 
soul? No; you must have something else than that. You 
must look for something more, something higher and more 
lasting than that. When you are playing you should say 
to yourselves, “Well, this is all very nice, but I must have 
something more.” And when you go home to-night, and 
think how happy you expect to be through the week, you 
should say, “ Well, but I must. have something more than 
that, for that will not last for ever.” 

Ill. God has sent us food —Where has this food come from? 
From the world? No. From India, China, America, 
Russia, from the North Pole? No. Where does it come 
from? Heaven. God has sent us food. He has sent us 
food because He loved us, pitied us. Did he do this once 
to the children of Israel? Yes. Where? In the wilder- 
ness. What did he send them? Manna. When the Lord 
Jesus Christ was here, great multitudes came to Him, and 
He fed them—four, five, six thousand. He said, “I have 
compassion on the multitude, because they continue with 
me now three days, and have nothing to eat.” What made 
Christ pity them? They had nothing to eat. He was 
sorry for them, and accordingly He provided bread for 
them. He gave them bread to eat just as God had given 
Israel manna in the desert. And that bread—that manna 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 199 


—came from God; it was God’s gift to a hungry world, 
God’s gift to the hungry sons of men. It was in love God 
thus fed them in the day of their hunger, with what they 
could not get with their own hands, or from their fellow- 
men. But what God did in the desert, and what the Lord 
Jesus did for the thousands who followed Him, was just a 
figure of what God does for us. Hesends down food from 
heaven ; He sends it down in plenty ; He sends the best 
food—the finest of the wheat ; and He sends it free, with- 
out money and without price. 

My dear children, it is God alone that can feed you, that 
can make you happy, that can fill the void in your hearts. 
That which feeds a soul must come down from heaven. 
That which feeds the body grows upon the earth; that 
which feeds the soul comes down from heaven. And that 
which comes down to feed the soul must be full of the love 
of God, the grace of God. 

Can you remember some of the different things that are 
spoken of food in the Bible? What is the first mention of 
it? The fruit of the tree of life—that is the first time food 
is spoken of. Then we have afterwards food spoken of 
among the children of Israel. There was always bread in 
the Tabernacle—the shew-bread. It was always there, in 
the Holy Place ; twelve loaves stood there, and these twelve 
loaves were just the voice of God saying,—I am feeding 
you; here is food from heaven for you. Then there is 
something in the Bible about the hidden manna; we do 
not know what it is now, but we shall know hereafter. In 
many ways, God speaks of feeding us, and feeding us with 
what comes from heaven. He gives angels’ food—better 
than angels’ food, a feast of fat things, the choice food of 
heaven. Will you not take what God has provided? Ina 
hungry world you may have plenty for your souls. For 
God does not stint you ; He keeps a rich table, a plentiful 
table. He invites all, and all things are free. 

IV. Christ ts the food God has sent down from heaven.— 
“Tam the Living Bread which came down from heaven.” 
“God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, 
but have everlasting life.” That text tells us that the bread 
God sent down from heaven to us here is His only begotten 
Son,—the Word made flesh, who was born in Bethlehem, 


200 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


_— 


lived at Nazareth, died at Golgotha, and rose again. It is 
this Christ who is the food of men’s souls, so that whoso- 
ever eateth of Him shall never die, and shall never hunger, 
—“ My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.” 
Christ is the food of our souls, the fruit of the tree of life, 
the manna, the shew-bread, the paschal lamb; He is all 
these, for in Him we find God. Nothing can fill a soul but 
God ; and when Christ comes in, God comes in; and in 
filling us with God, He makes us bright, happy, holy; He 
fills us with that food. 

And if you want to know about this bread which came 
down from heaven, read the four Gospels, which just con- 
tain a description of the Bread of Life. These four Gospels 
contain a fourfold picture or description of the bread of 
God. Study these Gospels, and, in studying them, you 
will know what the bread of life isthe bread of God. 
You will hear Christ say, “I am the Bread which came 
down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not 
die.” 

You will say, How am I to get it ?—Christ is in heaven, 
and I am upon the earth. God tells us that whoever 
believes what is written of Christ in these Gospels gets 
the bread into his soul. It is in receiving what God has 
written in these Gospels about Christ that we get the 
bread, and feed upon it. Study, then, these Gospels, that 
in meditation on them you may have your hunger fed, 
your soul satisfied—that you may be filled with God. 

Remember, we have nothing to pay. The bread is all 
free. A little child can eat it as well as a grown-up man. 
All get it in believing—only in believing. Remember, it 
is for the chief of sinners, the hungriest of the hungry, 
the emptiest of the empty, the poorest of the poor. “He 
that believeth hath everlasting life, shall never come into 
condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.” It is 
said of the forbidden fruit, “In the day thou eatest thereof 
thou shalt surely die.” But of this fruit which is not for- 
bidden, we say, In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt 
surely live. Eat, O friends! eat and be refreshed ; eat and 
be satisfied. 

Do not think that you have plenty of time before you, 
and therefore may eat when you like. Days are running 
fast away; death may be nearer than you think—Christ 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 201 


nearer than you think. The last trump may soon be 
sounding, and then the bread sent from God is taken away, 
and we are left without it. Take this bread and live for 
ever; take Christ and live for ever; take the fulness of the 
Word made flesh ; take Him now, and in Him be satisfied. 


He contains enough for you! 
H. B. 


LXVII. The Redeemer’s Tears. Jounxi35. “Jesus 
wept.” 


You know this text to be the shortest in all the Bible. Is 
it not the sweetest also? Thousands and thousands have 
blessed God for these two words. Next to the comfort of 
knowing that Jesus shed His blood, is that of reading that 
He shed tears. 

On the day when Jesus rode in lowly guise into Jeru- 
salem, hailed with Hosannas, we are told that when He 
came nigh the city, He lifted up His voice and wept over 
it, saying, “O that thou hadst known, even thou in this 
thy day, the things that belong to thy peace; but now 
they are hid from thine eyes.” These were tears of grief 
and compassion indeed—wept for enemies that would not 
be friends. A great writer, from that scene has drawn a 
title to a book he published. Did you ever read Howe’s 
treatise, called “The Redeemer’s Tears over Lost Souls” ? 
That is the book to which we refer. 

On two other occasions we are told of Jesus weeping. 
A few days later than the incident mentioned, down in 
a garden at the foot of the same hill of Olivet, He wept 
by night, in that agony of His, which brought the bloody 
sweat in great drops from His body to the ground. “He 
offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying 
and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from 
death, and was heard in that He feared.” 

The other occasion was that of the text. The scene was 
near the Mount of Olives too; for the village of Bethany 
stood on the back of the hill. It is this weeping of Jesus 
we are now to consider. 

Notice, however, before proceeding, the difference of 
character in those three weepings of Christ. In Geth- 
semane, His own anguish, endured indeed for us, wming 


202 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


the bitter drops from His eyes. On Olivet, He wept fot 
foes resolved and doomed to perish. Near the grave of 
Lazarus, He wept in sympathy with loved friends. Those 
tears of Jesus speaks to us of four things. They are 
tears,— 

I. Of pain. Jesus suffers. 

II. Of pity. Jesus sympathises., 

III. In pledge. Jesus shows what all may find Him. 

IV. Of example. Jesus sets an example. 

I. cere are tears of pain—Tears are not always painful. 
Laughter itself at times runs over in tears. Is there not 
something touching here—that joy should go to the same 
fountain as sorrow to draw water? But though this be 
the case, tears are generally the signs of grief. These 
tears of Jesus were signs of pain within. 

A great deal of Christ’s sufferings was within. His worst 
pain was not when they scourged Him, or when the nails 
went through His hands and flesh, or when He said, “I 
thirst.” The pain of crucifixion was very dreadful, but 
He had endured worse anguish than the bodily torture. 
The worst sufferings of men generally are not what can 
be seen. Perhaps there are walking the streets in health, 
or sitting in our worshipping assemblies, without a sign of 
woe, persons whose bosoms are full of a grief worse than 
bodily pain. God only knows the bitterness and the 
burden of stricken hearts. Now, never any one suffered 
so much as Jesus did in His heart, surrounded as He was 
with sin and its awful fruits in our earth, Think of the 
constant burden that must have pressed His heart, seeing 
with His eyes what surrounded Him! To see the bitter 
wages of sin, to see the sad workings of sin in unbelief 
and slowness to learn, to see this both in enemies and 
friends, bowed down His soul in grief. 

This sorrow was for us. It was part of the burden Jesus 
bore for us, that we might be relieved. When He wept. 
as well as when He bled, He was suffering for us. 

II. Pzty—Jesus sympathizes. It is beautiful to see 
Jesus’ tears mingling themselves with those of the sorrow- 
ing sisters. He feels that Lazarus was His brother too, 
and He weeps to think he had been sick to death and now 
lay in the grave. Jesus must have been fond of Lazarus. 
You recollect the sisters’ message when their brother was 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. j 203 


ill, “Lord, he whom Thou lovest is sick.” Yes, the Jews 
were right when they said, “ Behold how He loved him!” 
Love shed those tears, love for the dead and for the living. 
O happy family, equally numerous, or less so, or more so, 
that can put their own names into that verse about the 
Saviour’s love to the three of Bethany, and read it about 
themselves ! 

Some children will be ready to say, How should Jesus 
shed tears of sympathy with Martha and Mary, when He 
knew very well that Lazarus was to be raised from the 
dead? You are quite right in thinking that Jesus knew 
that he would soon recall Lazarus. There is no real 
difficulty, for all that, in His weeping meanwhile. Sym- 
pathy throws itself into the feelings of others, and sees as 
with their eyes. It weeps with the present distress, what- 
ever issue be foreseen. 

III. A Pledge—tThese tears speak about the future, and 
show us what Jesus will always be. Everything done by 
Christ on earth was done for all time. The meaning 
of His actions were not confined to the persons and the 
places of the hour. They stand out as parables to teach 
the world. When Jesus wept with Martha and Mary, His 
tears promised that all His suffering followers to the end 
of time should have His pitying regard. They dropt to 
the earth for you. 

It is true that we must not think now of Jesus shedding 
tears in heaven. If God wipes away all tears from the 
eyes of Christ’s people, they cannot remain in the eyes of 
Christ Himself. Tears belonged to the time of His weak- 
ness and humiliation. Nevertheless, His heart is as tender 
and as full of love as ever. You recollect how in the last 
day, the Judge, who is the Son of man, speaks of the least 
of His brethren as one with Himself; when they are fed, 
clothed, visited, He counts all done to Himself. It is be- 
cause this truth may be read in the tears shed by Jesus at 
Lazarus’ grave that so many thousands have blessed God 
for the words of the text. 

IV. A pattern—The Saviour sets us an example. It 
is a woful thing to have a hard, unpitying heart. Should 
any of you be already selfish and stony, woe for you in 
this suffering world ! 

If you do not get your heart warmed and softened by 


204 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


Jesus’ grace, it will get like flint and steel. There is so 
much to pity all around us, that if we will have no fellow- 
feeling with sufferers, the constant refusal to show kind- 
ness will prey on the soul and eat its marrow up. The 
tears that are kept in will turn to gall and wormwood 
within us. Pray for a tender, loving heart in your youth, 
You will have enough to do to keep even such a heart 
from having its feelings deadened in the years of after life. 

The teaching of Christ’s tears to us all may be given in 
Paul’s words, “ Weep with them that weep.” Sympathize 
with real distress as you find it around you. Then let 
your sympathy be practical. Let it move your hand as 
well as stir your heart and fill your eye. Try and take 
some grains from the great heap of human misery, and 
add some to the growing pile of human happiness. It is 
a blessed work; and he who every day dries some tears, 
is in training for the companionship of angels and of Jesus 
and of God. 

Whether would you have Jesus weep over you, or with 
you? Over you, as lost, like doomed Jerusalem ; or with 
you, as His loved ones in sorrow, like Martha or Mary? 
You know what should be your choice !—is it your choice? 
The place for those over whom Christ grieves is a place 
of “weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Why 
should any of you see it ? 

J. E. 


LXVIII. Christ’s Drawing Power. Joun xii. 32. 
“And J, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men 
unto Me.” 


IF any of us have seen a magnetized tack-hammer, we 
know that it isa hammer with one end having the property 
of a loadstone, which takes up the tacks, whilst with the 
other end they are hammered in. The gospel is something 
like this hammer. It draws the little tacks, whilst the big 
nails won’t move. Suppose we were to bring near this 
magnetized end of the hammer a number of fine needles ; 
what would be the effect? It would draw them. They 
would seem as if they had life. They would spring to- 
wards the end of the hammer, and cling to it just as if 
they had an affection for it ; just as achild springs towards 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 205 


its mother, and clings upon her neck. What makes this? 
Ah, there is some mystery here. We can’t explain it. But 
we can understand the fact for we see it with our eyes. But 
who are these little needles? They are the little children. 
And what is it that draws them? It is Jesus. Yes, how 
sweetly and strongly He drawsthem. But they must come, 
or be brought near to Him—for, don’t we notice, that if the 
little needles are not brought near to the hammer, they 
don’t move towards it? But when we lay them close by, 
then they move and fasten upon it, as if they could not 
help clinging to it. Oh, beautiful thought! Parents and 
Sunday-school teachers, think of it. Bring your little ones 
near. There is a sweet drawing power in Jesus. By 
teaching and prayer, bring them and lay them near, and 
see if they are not drawn as by the cords of love into His 
arms. But we observe that the big ones are not so easily 
drawn. While the little ones are clustering, as if all alive, 
around the centre of attraction, the big ones lie as if dead. 
They don’t move at all. Even when the hammer is laid 
upon them, or strikes a hard blow, they scarcely seem to 
' move. And if children, whilst they are little, and can 
come to Jesus much more easily, so to speak, keep at a 
distance—keep too far off from Jesus to feel His drawing 
power, when they get big they will be like the big nails, 
and perhaps they will never be drawn to the bosom of 
Jesus. How dreadful that would be! 

There is a beautiful passage in the New Testament, 
_which speaks of Jesus drawing hearts to Him: “ And I, if I 
be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me.” Now let us fix 
that text in our minds, and connect it in our thoughts 
with the little hammer and the needles. Yes, Jesus was 
lifted up on the cross by His enemies, in order to render 
Him ignominious ; that is, that all people might scorn one 
that was crucified. So ¢hey meant it for evil. But God 
meant it for good, that He might draw all men unto Him. 
And He did draw even some of His crucifiers unto Him. 
The Roman centurion, who ordered the soldiers to drive 
the nails into His flesh, that hard-hearted Roman gazed on 
the cross, until he felt his heart melted and moved, and he 
cried out, “Truly this was the Son of God.” And the 
dying thief who was crucified with Jesus, a very wicked 
man, turned his eyes upon our Lord, and felt his heart 


205 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


drawn towards Him. “Oh,” said he, “this Jesus is right- 
eous, but what a sinner J am,” and he looked at that blood 
oozing from His thorn-clad brow, and streaming from His 
pierced hands, and he said, “ Surely that blood can wash 
my sins away.” Then he put up a prayer, “Lord, re- 
member me.” See how he was drawn. And Jesus did 
remember him, and took him with Him up to heaven. 
Have you been drawn to Jesus? Has His dying love 
like a secret cord drawn you to this precious Saviour? If 
so, cling to Him now and for ever, and bring other little 
ones near Him. Perhaps they will be drawn also. If you 
have not yet come to Him, oh, come now, while so many 
are flocking to Him, and clustering around His feet, and 
nestling, as it were, in His very bosom. “Come to Jesus 
come ow.” ). & 


LXIX. The True Way to Heaven. Joun xiv. 6. 
“No man cometh unto the Father but by Me.” 


ROME is one of the oldest and most famous cities of the 
world, and is now the capital of Italy. There, eighteen 
hundred years ago, the Emperor Nero reigned. He was a 
monster of cruelty, who one day set the city on fire, and put 
the blame of its burning on the innocent Christians. There 
too, about the same time, the Apostle Paul was a prisoner, 
with his right hand chained to a Roman soldier: he 
preached Christ, and died as a martyr. Its ruined Forum 
and fallen temples tell of the “story of the Czsars” long 
since gone. But if its old heathen religion is dead for ever, 
another.religion, little better, has come into its place, and 
has its leading seat there. Its priests and monks and nuns 
swarm like bees about the streets. All kinds of “lying 
wonders” are invented to deceive the people. Let me tell 
you of one of them which I lately saw on the morning of 
“Easter Friday.” 

Near the splendid church of St. John de Lateran is 
the famous Scala Sancta, or Sacred Stair, supposed to be 
brought from Jerusalem—the same steps down which our 
Saviour walked from Pilate’s hall of judgment to the hill of 
Calvary. These steps are twenty-five in number, made of 
solid marble, and covered with wood to keep them from 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 207 


being worn away by the knees of the climbing pilgrims. 
Those pilgrims on Easter week come from all parts of the 
world. They are of different colours and ranks and ages, 
and I watched them beginning to climb this “holy stair,” 
slowly creeping up, counting their beads, crossing their 
faces, and muttering their “Ave Marias” and “ Paternos- 
ters” as they went. Near the top was a full-sized image 
of the Saviour, made of wood, crowned with thorns, and 
wearing the marks of His wounds on His temples, and hands, 
and side, and feet. Around this “image” of Jesus a group 
of women were gathered. It was sad to see their pitiful 
looks and hear their groaning prayers, as they beat their 
breasts and kissed each wound, from the pierced feet to 
the thorn-crowned head. Poor people! they were quite in 
earnest, but they were sadly self-deceived. They thought 
that for every step they climbed, they received indulgence 
or pardon for the sins of a year! Therefore, when they 
reached the top they thought that sins of twenty-five years 
were blotted out ; so that, taking their average life at fifty, 
two visits to the Sacred Stair would carry them to the 
“gates of heaven.” 

I thought of a noble man—namely, Martin Luther—who, 
three centuries ago, found the light of the gospel on that 
same stair. Dressed as a monk, with his shaven head and 
bare knees, he was creeping up those marble steps, hoping 
thereby to calm his troubled conscience and work his way 
to heaven, when all at once the voice of God was heard 
crying in his soul, “ The just shall live by faith.” Obedient 
to the heavenly voice, he saw his error of trying to earn his 
title to salvation by his own pains and works; and leaving 
the city in disgust, he went home to nail his “ Theses” to 
the church door at Wittenberg, and to kindle the fire of the 
glorious Reformation. 

Yes, Luther found the true way to heaven, not by climb- 
ing that Sacred Stair on his naked knees, but by simple 
faith in Jesus, who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the 
life: no man cometh to the Father, but by Me.” If you 
would ever enter heaven you must do it by the same way. 

That way zs an ancient way. On it the saints of God 
have walked in every age,—patriarchs like Abraham, pro- 
phets like Samuel, judges like Gideon, apostles like Peter, 
martyrs like Stephen, mothers like Eunice, and children 


208 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


like Timothy, who knew from boyhood the Holy Book, 
and by it became wise unto salvation. 

itis a narrow way ; for “strait is the gate, and narrow 
: the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that 

nd it.” 

It is a holy way, “the highway of holiness.” Here is 
God’s password to all who enter it,—“ Except a man be 
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 

It is a dificult way. All its pilgrims, be they old or 
young, have some cross to carry. Like Bunyan’s pilgrim, 
they must climb the hill Difficulty, and fight with Apollyon. 

It ts a safe or well-guarded way, for the angels encamp 
around it; and as the mountains are round about Jerusa- 
lem, so the Lord Almighty is round about its travellers. 

Finally, z¢ zs a freely open way, free as the sun that 
shines on the evil and the good; free to all men, without 
money and without price, whatever the colour of their skin 
or the land of their birth ; free to the richest, if they only 
become poor in spirit; free to the poorest, if they only seek 
to be rich in faith ; free to the wisest, if they only wish to 
be taught of God! and free to you, dear boys and girls. 
Only enter it now. You zeed to enter it, for you are not 
too young to sin, and not too young to die. Death may 
cut you off very soon, and your bed may soon be the little 
green grave. Enter it zow, while your hearts are tender ; 
for the sooner you do so, the earlier and the deeper will 
be your happiness. Your memory will be filled with fewer 
regrets when you come to look back on your early years ; 
and your seed of holiness, that grew so fast on the soil of 
earth, will bear the richer harvest in the paradise above. 


“When we devote our youth to God, 
*Tis pleasing in His eyes ; 
A flower, when offered in the bud, 
Is no vain sacrifice.” 


A. B. 


LXX. The Cross. Joun xix. 17. “And He bearing 
His cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull.” 


THOSE gracious words of our Lord, “Suffer the little chil- 
dren to come unto Me,” have been called the “child’s 
gospel.” And surely it is “gospel,” or “glad tidings,” for 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 209 


the young, that Jesus is willing to receive them, takes 
pleasure in them, opens His arms to them, will have none 
hinder them. But the “child’s gospel” is contained in 
other texts, too. It isin ourtext. It.is “good news” to 
the child, that the Saviour, “bearing His cross, went forth 
to Golgotha,” because He did ¢hat for each child; and 
thus, and thus only, could there be any hope for eternity. 
Oh, how interesting should it be to watch every step which 
He took on that dreadful journey! Jewish boys and girls 
then alive saw it, and perhaps were sorry—perhaps joined 
in mocking Him; but they did not uxderstand it. They 
remind us of the birds which went on singing merrily, and 
the frogs which continued to chirp, when a friend of ours 
was drowning in a mill-pond. At the last moment his foot 
felt the bottom and he rescued himself; but he said that 
what struck him the most strangely and painfully while 
struggling and crying for help, was the utter carelessness 
of the various creatures around! So it was with the 
greater part of those who witnessed the scene before us, 
as the procession moved along through the streets of Jeru- 
salem more than eighteen hundred years ago. 

But, you may tell us, that it is so painful to think closely 
upon Christ’s bitter sufferings. When we love persons we 
cannot bear to picture them to ourselves in distress ; how 
could we ever look at the portrait of a mother painted on 
her dying-bed, or of a brother borne wounded and gasping 
on a litter from the battle-fleld? No: we have them 
painted at their happiest times, in comfortable easy chairs 
by their fire-sides, or leaning on a sunlit balcony. And, of 
course, it is more agreeable to contemplate the Blessed One 
in His quiet infant rest in the manger at Bethlehem, or 
in His dazzling glory on the Mount of Transfiguration, or 
riding on the favoured ass down the slope of Olivet, with 
the multitude shouting Hosannas, and strewing His path 
with branches of palm. But still, are we to turn away 
from Him now when /or us He is “ bearing His cross” and 
setting out for “the place of a skull” ?—nay, rather. shall 
we not walk after Him, “beholding and weeping,” as the 
pious women did? Now let us ask,— 

I. Why He bore the cross? 

It was a deavy load. Two large pieces of wood, or tvo 
rough sticks of timber strong enough to sustain a mars 

P 


210 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


weight, could not have been light, and He was to bear it 
for a distance, and to bear it up hill. And it was a ¢errible 
load. It was the instrument of His torture and death. 
Bad as our culprits may be, we do not make them drag 
their own gallows. We mercifully keep it out of their 
sight till the fatal moment has arrived, and the prison bell 
begins to toll. 

If, then, it was so heavy and terrible a burden, why was 
the Lord compelled to carry it? Certainly He could 
have found others to carry it for Him,—there were His 
own disciples, there were men who could have been hired 
to do it, there was not an angel in heaven but would 
have flown to relieve Him of it. But it seems that the 
authorities determined that He should do it Himself, in 
order to add to His grief and shame, if possible. Cruci- 
fixion was the Roman mode of punishment for condemned 
slaves. It was the lowest and cruelest mode of punish- 
ment in the world. And they were accustomed to put the 
cross on the back of the criminal to signify that he had 
brought it on himself by his own folly and wickedness ; it 
said to the bystanders, ‘“‘ He has got on his shoulders the 
accursed tree which he himself planted.” It was, therefore, 
a fresh arrow in His heart, a fresh sting to His soul. It 
was meant to aggravate His grief and trouble in that dark 
hour. In America the Indians pack their poor wives with 
whatever they can strap on—skins, kettles, food, babies— 
till they groan and stagger, but if they complain they will 
have extra tent poles added. This is a piteous sight, and 
you would be indignant at it. But what is it compared 
to that of the gentle Redeemer, trembling from want of 
nourishment, sick from want of sleep, torn with the savage 
scourging, yet bearing His cross!—soon, He knew, it was 
to be stained with His blood—soon, He knew, He would 
be hanging in torment upon it; but He has to pull it after 
Him as if He were Barabbas himself! But we must 
hasten to ask— 

Il. How was tt “ His” cross? 

St. John says “ His” cross. In what sense was it His? 
There is a proverb which declares that “those who fill 
their beds with thorns will by-and-by have to lie on them.” ° 
But of this we are confident, that Jesus was “holy, harm- 
less, undefiled, and separate from sinners.” Pilate’s verdict, 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 218 


after repeated examinations, and in the face of His ac- 
cusers, was, “ There is no fault in Him.” It was not “ His” 
cross then because He deserved it. He was as innocent 
as the snow-white lambs which for centuries had been 
slain as types of Him on the Temple altars. But it was 
“ His” cross in that He was to be nazled to it. He was 
really about to be fastened to it. There was to be no 
escape for Him, as there had been for Isaac, who presently 
yielded His perilous position on the fagots to the entangled 
ram. 

It was “His” chosen cross, as He had chosen to offer 
Himself upon it. It was no surprise to Him—no mistake ; 
it was His choice, His plan, His determination. The pro- 
phecies which foretold it were His thoughts about it ages 
before. He was expecting it as thoroughly as He was 
expecting His resurrection ; alluding to it He said, “I have 
a baptism to be baptised with, and how am I straztened till 
it be accomplished.” 

It was “ His” cross, as He must be uplifted on it. You 
are right in supposing that it was not zecessary for him to 
consent to it. God used no compulsion. He did not say, 
“T command you to become obedient to it. I insist on 
your rescuing that fallen race.” But when Jesus had 
voluntarily undertaken it, He could not withdraw. Then 
He was bound to the cross as with cords. Then He 
had to drink the cup, or rebel against His Father’s will. 
Nobody is forced to join the crew of a life-boat ; it is left 
to their taste and courage; they can do it or not as suits 
them; but if they have joined, then the “must” begins; 
then they must train, they must report themselves at 
proper seasons, and when the storm is raging and the 
vessels are making ashore, and the signal rockets are 
bursting in the air, then they must be at their post, and 
brave the cold, the waves, the hurricane! 

This was how the “must” applies to Jesus. Of His 
infinite compassion He had engaged to ransom us; and 
when the price to be paid was due, He had to pay it in 
agonies, and He had no other desire or intention. That 
“cross” was even dear to Him in this view of it. He 
would not have had it destroyed, He would not have 
been delivered from it. The “twelve legions” of celestial 
guards were waiting His beck, and, it may be, besought 


212 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


Him to let them interfere; but He said, “For zhzs cause 
came I to this hour. Let the cross alone, it is Mine! and 
let Me alone. It is in expiring on it that I shall conquer 
Satan and win My crown!” 

III. Let us ask whose cross tt properly was. 

Strictly speaking it was not Christ’s, but ours. He had 
not proceeded far with it before His strength failed ; and 
the soldiers, perceiving how He was fainting, and impatient 
to get their wretched task through, laid hands on a certain 
villager named Simon, who happened to be near them, either 
gazing curiously, or trying to steal through the crowd into 
the city on business. They transferred the Lord’s cross 
to him; and resist as he might, and protest as he might, 
he had to convey it the rest of the journey to Golgotha. 
And now the cross was on the proper person—a sinful 
human being. In that Simon represented us. We ought 
to have endured its pangs, for we were the transgressors, 
We merited it—not Christ; He was blameless—we were 
guilty. He was worthy of a radiant throne, not of a cross. 
But we had angered God’s justice, and He who would 
deliver us from the bottomless pit, would have to present 
Himself a sacrifice in our stead. The cross—anguish of 
body and spirit (for the cross is the emblem of that)—was 
our doom, and Jesus here addressed Himself to it. 

Do not forget that it was our cross. He simply took it 
upon Himself. He allowed God to deal with Him on it as 
if we were there. He bade Him smite Him, heap stripes 
on Him, and pour out the scalding vials of vengeance on 
His head. Thus He was our atonement. God reckoned 
with Him for us. He saz¢zsfied the law so that it had no 
demand left. Our iniquities were an insurmountable wall 
between ourselves and God’s favour; Jesus on the cross 
broke the wall down to the ground, and opened an effec- 
tual door through it. As the converted heathen said to 
the missionary, “ Once I was in a deep valley, with a huge 
pile of black stones (my crimes) pressing me to the dust. 
I groaned and writhed, but it was useless. Then you 
preached Jesus to us, and when His cross touched the pile, 
it tumbled and dissolved!” 

But now what may we learn from this fact, that Jesus 
thus encountered our cross for us? 

Do we not learn His exceeding kindness towards us? 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 213 


What instances of parental affection we have had. A 
merchant was wrecked on the Atlantic, and floated for 
days on a raft, with his tiny daughter and a dozen grown- 
up people. They were short of supplies. The biscuits 
and the water were regularly apportioned, so much apiece, 
and then it was such a fragment and spoonful that it 
scarcely filled the mouth. The merchant nobly denied 
himself his, to give his “Mary” a double portion. They 
were picked up, but he remained an invalid to his grave 
—that self-denial cost him his health. This was a beauti- 
ful example of tenderness ; but it fades into shadow in the 
light of Jesus “bearing His cross” and ascending to “the 
place of a skull!” Let us meditate more earnestly and 
frequently on this practical proof of His “exceeding kind- 
ness” towards us. 

Again, we learn from it that God is willing to be re- 
conciled to us. He does not now frown upon poor sinners 
who seek Him, or threaten them with hell! On the con- 
trary, He smiles and invites and promises. If we approach 
Him with Jesus for our mediator, clinging to His skirt, 
pleading His cross, God has nothing for us but love. Let 
us reflect upon this. It was at the foot of the cross that 
Christian, in the “ Pilgrim’s Progress,” suddenly lost what 
up to that spot so oppressed him. There it is that we are 
to be rid of what alarms us. Indeed, it isso! Christ on 
the very cross here mentioned, secured God’s salvation for 
us, and we have but to apply to God for it through Him. 
We learn from it that Jesus is to be everything to us! Not 
merely our cross bearer ; but as He was so entirely that, so 
is He to be as entirely our guide, our pattern, our teacher, 
our master, our judge. It is mean just to wse Him for 
what He did on the cross for you, and then, as it were, 
refuse Him His claims for your service! He requires that 
those who visit and embrace His cross for forgiveness, shall 
visit and embrace it for purification, for advice, for comfort. 

Finally, we learn from it how to bear our trials. 

They are crosses—that is, they afflict us; but, ah! are 
they as awful as Christ's? And yet He had not a murmur. 
Patiently He bore His, till He sunk under it! Now ours 
always have many alleviations; and then He will sym- 
pathize with us, and succour us, and enable us to bear 
them cheerfully. An ancient writer says that our crosses 


2i4 SERMONS TO CHILDREN 


are composed of hundreds of fragments, while Christ’s was 
solid. He had to bear His whole as it was! We are 
laden with ours bit by bit, and we seldom have a second 
bit added until a former bit has been removed. Thus our 
cross is nothing to Christ’s. But be it solid or in fragments, 
we will bear it, humbly following Him who went forth 
bearing His, which was ours, “to the place of a skull.” 
J. B. 


LXXI. Saved by a Cry. Acts ii. 21. “ Whosoever shall 
call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 


ONE summer afternoon a little boy was playing on the 
bank of the river Clyde, near Glasgow Green. Suddenly 
falling towards the edge, he rolled into the water. Almost 
in a moment he sank and disappeared. Then coming up, 
and stretching out his arms, he cried with all his might, 
“ Oh, save me!” 

A kind man, near, heard the touching cry; and he at 
once, and without any apparent hesitation, casting off his 
coat, plunged into the river, and catching him with his 
strong arms, bravely brought the boy to the shore. 

It was a generous, noble deed, and that afternoon his 
was the joy of rescuing a little one from an early, untimely 
. grave; and I have no doubt that, as good George Herbert 
used to say, the thought of what he had done that day 
would be “ sweet music to him at midnight.” 

That little boy was saved by a cry ; for had he not cried, 
his case might not have been discovered until it was too 
late. Of course, it was not his cry that actually saved 
him, yet it was the means of leading to it. It fetched 
a saviour near; and doesn’t that show how sinners are 
saved? They are not saved, strictly speaking, by prayer. 
They are saved by the Lord, in answer to prayer—or, 
prayer is the cry that brings the Saviour near. 

“Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall 
be saved” (Acts ii. 21). 

I. A cry comes from a sense of danger.—That little boy 
wouldn’t have cried if he had thought and felt that he was 
safe. He cried because he was conscious that he was in 
terrible danger, and that without some deliverance coming 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 215 


to him outside of himself, he would need to perish. Se 
felt Peter when he was sinking in the waters of the Sea 
of Galilee. He was going down—down, and he saw 
that unless the Saviour came to his side and laid His 
hand upon him, he would perish. 

And isn’t that the very way people feel when they come 
to see their sins lying on them unforgiven? They feel as 
if a weight were on them, sinking them down to a lost 
eternity. For sins bring death. God has said it, and God 
must keep His word, and so maintain His just and holy 
character. God could not break His character, even to 
save a world ; and therefore it was that Jesus had to come 
and take our place and die, the just for the unjust, that 
through His obedience unto death God might be able 
justly as well as graciously to receive and bless us. 

Now, have you seen your sins? and have you felt their 
sinking power? and have you cried ? 

II. A cry comes from a hope of deliverance.—For why cry, 
unless you expect that help will come? That little boy 
cried in the hope that some helping hand would be 
stretched out to him. And he was not disappointed. 
Deliverance came. So with David,— 


“This poor man cried, God heard and saved 
Him from all his distresses.” 


And did not the dying thief on the cross cry to Jesus in 
the expectation that he would be heard and saved? And 
was he disappointed? No. And nobody will, who calls 
on Jesus. 

Ill. How near Jesus ts to all that call on Him.—What a 
merciful providence it was that such a kind friend was so 
near that little boy drowning in the Clyde? Yet the Lord 
is near us all. He is not far from any one of us. 


“ He’s near to all that on Him call, 
Who call in truth on Him alone.” 


How near to Moses and the children of Israel at the Red 
Sea! How near to the three Hebrew children in the 
furnace ; and to Daniel in the lion’s den! And how near 
to the disciples in the storm! The Lord isa very present 
help in trouble. 

IV. How simply we may obtain the help we need.—We 


216 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


have but in earnest to cry ; we have but to tell Jesus all. 
our case, and He will hear and help us. 


“For thou hast not forsaken them 
That truly seek Thy face.” 


Oh, how easy, to us, is God’s gracious plan of saving us! 
Say,—have you seen your sins, and felt their load! 
And have you cried for salvation, and received Jesus as 
your Saviour? “For every one that asketh receiveth, and 

he that seeketh findeth.” 
A. A. 


LXXII. Ananias and Sapphira. Actsv.2. “And 
kept back part of the price.” 


THIS story of Ananias and Sapphira is full of sadness. 
In going over the story let us remember that it is there 
in the Bible to bring a message for us. 

When a telegraph bell rings, what a difference it makes 
whether we know that it is the arrival of an important 
despatch for us, or the mere line signals repeating them- 
selves! If it is for us, how we watch and listen and drink it 
in! So let us do with this message from God to us. 

I. What happened to Ananias and Sapphira? 

They suddenly dropped down dead. A few minutes 
before, they were walking, looking about, nodding to friends. 
A few minutes after, they were corpses, lying stiff, cold, 
speechless, their spirits in another world. 

It is a painful thing to die thus, to be smitten without 
warning? Ananias and Sapphira were cut off in the midst 
of their iniquity. 

Even when our worst criminals are sentenced to be hung, 
they have a period of repentance allowed them, and 
chaplains to exhort them to improve it. But Ananias and 
Sapphira were tried, found guilty, condemned, executed - 
in the space of a single breath! At Peter’s word each fell 
to the earth, dead. Does it not say to us, “Be ye also 
ready?” We may have the golden thread snapped short 
and the pitcher broken at the fountain when we least 
expect it. 

II. When did it happen to them? 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 217 


Were they seized with a mortal disease, such as the 
plague, which slays men as they sit at their meals? No; 
none of these arrows were flying around. It was bright 
and tranquil morn. The doctors would have reported that 
they had no malady, and the coroner that there were no 
wounds. The whole affair was miraculous, “it was the 
finger of God.” It was His direct doing, and it was done 
asa judgment upon them. The awful power of Jehovah 
accompanied His word. An invisible shaft pierced them 
through and through; or a view of the heinousness of their 
transgression rushed upon them and overwhelmed them. 
Intense feeling can do that; it has transformed dark hair 
into white in a night, and strong-minded persons into 
raving lunatics. Then we should pray God to keep us in 
peace, to avert fright from us, so to cover us with His wings 
that we may have no fears ; and that when terrors befall us 
we may meet them serenely. 

Ill. Why did it happen to them ? 

This is the lesson for us: It happened to them because 
they told a deliberate lie. They wanted to imitate the 
noble conduct of Barnabas, who had sold his land and 
devoted all to the Lord. Ananias sought to have the 
credit of doing as handsome a thing, so he sold his acres, 
kept back part of the price (his wife being privy unto it), 
then brought a “certain part” and presented it to Peter 

as proudly and plausibly as if it had been the whole. God 
Be culed their hypocrisy to Peter. God Himself said to 
them, “ Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.” Their last 
utterances were deliberate lies. 

Thus God was glorified and the Church was warned. 

Does it not show to us how God hates lying? Does He 
not say it is an abomination to Him. Are not liars said to 
be shut out of heaven. (Rev. xxi.) 

“T scorn to lie,” said Washington to his mother, when a 
mere child. But there are those, alas, who do not reckon 
it asa meanness! They have a lie in their throat, as an 
adder has poison in his fangs, for every trouble. What 
wrath they are treasuring up for themselves! How they 
are trifling with their characters ! 

IV. How did it happen to them? 

Through covetousness. They wished for Barnabas’ fame, 
but they could not surrender all, as Barnabas did. This 


| 


218 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


covetousness was the vice of the Jews. It is now, in their 
unconverted state. 

Ananias and Sapphira had this disease. They would 
defy God Himself in order to gratify it. Beware of 
avarice. Guard against miserly propensities. They creep 
in, and creep on, and creep out most wonderfully. 

Especially in dealing with God let us be careful. If you 
have consecrated, though it be but a penny, to the mission- 
ary or any sacred cause, it is Christ’s, not your own. 
“Thy vows are upon me, O God.” You cannot withdraw 
it. It will burn your pocket and devour your flesh as doth 
a canker. 

Where is he or she who ever “kept back a part of the 
price,” and would not sooner or later have gladly paid it in 
tears or drops of blood! 

We should be deeply humbled when we reflect upon our 
triflings with God. Which of us but has trodden in 
the steps of Ananias and Sapphira, even if we have not 
followed them to the brink! Can you say, “I have not.” 
And yet God has spared us! We bow our heads and 
adore His long-suffering and grace. And shall we not 
henceforth avoid the appearance of evil and cherish the 
tender strings which check us in the path of falsehood? 
Must we have iron hurdles and prickly hedges to restrain us ? 

Let us cleave closer to Him who is Truth itself, and let 
us cleanse ourselves now from all our secret faults in that 
precious fountain to which He bids the vilest, and in which 
they are washed whiter than snow. 

J. B. 


LXXIII. The Ethiopian Eunuch. Acrs viii. 30. 
“ Understandest thou what thou readest ?” 


I WANT to say a few words to you respecting the conver- 
sion of a great man, the conversion of a man of Ethiopia, 
which was brought about by Philip, one of the church 
_deacons, and who was an evangelist. 

I will explain to you these two words. He was an 
evangelist because he announced the glad tidings, the 
tidings of peace. He was also one of the newly appointed 
order of deacons. We have that order now among the 
clergy of our Church, for we have the three orders of 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 219 


Bishops, Priest, and Deacons. Philip had been appointed 
one of the three deacons who was to attend to the wants 
and instruct the poor. The Apostles on the other hand 
represent the other order, that of priests ; and we find later 
on in this book, the Acts of the Apostles, that there was 
one named James the Less, the brother of our Lord, the 
first baptized at Jerusalem. As Philip the deacon was 
preaching, the angel of the Lord said, “Arise, and go 
toward the south, into the way that goeth down from 
Jerusalem into Gaza, which is desert.” Now this road is a 
long and weary road ; notwithstanding this, we find Philip 
immediately obeyed the command. He arose and went, 
and on the way he found a man of Ethiopia, a portion of 
Africa. This Ethiopian was a man of quality and position. 
He had authority under Candace, who was the Queen of 
Ethiopia, and who had given him the charge of all her trea- 
sures, because she placed great confidence and trust in him. 
Besides that, he was a Jewish proselyte, that is he had been 
converted to the Jewish religion, and he had come a long 
distance to Jerusalem to worship. He was now returning, 
and was sitting in his chariot, reading the 53rd chapter of 
Isaiah, which speaks of the sufferings and death of Jesus. 
He read that Christ was to be led to the slaughter without 
judgment; and then having read this, Philip joined him, 
and asked, “ Understandest thou what thou readest ?” 

Now notice the simplicity and ignorance of the Ethiopian. 
He answered, “ How can I, except some man should guide 
me?” And then he permitted Philip to come up in the 
chariot. And Philip read these beautiful words, full of the 
history of Jesus, “ He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, 
and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth 
not his mouth.” And then the Ethiopian said, “Of whom 
speaketh the prophet this? Of himself; or of some other 
man.” 

Philip instructs him and preaches unto him Jesus the 
Saviour. Now this seems strange to you, the Ethiopian 
reading these startling words and then to ask this question ; 
but remember the Jews believed then, and still believe, that 
the Messiah is yet to come. They did not believe that our 
Lord Jesus Christ was the promised Messiah. They still 
hoped for the time when their kingdom should be restored 
to them. Hence the striking words of the prophet had 


220 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


no effect, and did not bring home the real truth to the 
Ethiopian. 

Now, dear children, while speaking of this 531d chapter 
of Isaiah, the thought came to me that whenever we select 
a few chapters out of that best book, the Bible, this is the 
best. There is in the Book of Psalms a psalm well known 
to you, beginning with these words, “The Lord is my 
Shepherd, I shall not want.” Again, there is another 
chapter in John, “ Let not your hearts be troubled.” But 
the 53rd of Isaiah is one which many a mother teaches 
her children, as well as the 23rd Psalm, and that beautiful 
chapter of John. That chapter in John I often find has an 
echo in children’s hearts. 

To return to our history. After Philip had preached to » 
the Ethiopian, and had told him plainly of whom these 
words were spoken, they passed on along this dreary road. 
Presently they came to some water, and the Ethiopian was 
baptized. You may remember in your catechism two 
things: ‘Repentance, whereby we forsake sin; and Faith, 
whereby we stedfastly believe the promises of God.” 
This Ethiopian was a penitent. He is nowabeliever. He 
says, “I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God,” and then 
he is baptised. 

We are told nothing more in holy Scripture respecting 
this Ethiopian ; but we hear from tradition that after his 
return to Ethiopia he became a missionary and went about 
preaching the gospel of Christ. The evangelist had 
preached to him and he preached to others. We hear from 
tradition, also, that this Ethiopian suffered nobly for the 
Christian faith. Notice, first, here is a man of great mark. 
He leaves his own country to attend to his religious duties 
at Jerusalem. This should teach us a lesson, that we 
should not stay away from church for a trifle. And does 
it not also teach us that beside public prayer and public 
devotions, we should not let anything interfere with our 
private prayer. You see that nothing prevented this 
Ethiopian from coming a long distance to worship. No 
trifling pretence, no excuse, prevented this man coming 
along that dreary road up to Jerusalem to worship. 

Again, let us think of these words, “ Understandest thou 
what thou readest?” Oh, let us endeavour to understand 
with our hearts and minds what we read. It may be in 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 221 


reading books for our lessons, but above all in reading the 
best of books, the Holy Bible, let us understand, and en- 
deavour to do so with God’s help. 

And, lastly, how are we to understand? We can under- 
stand by asking those around us, by instruction from our 
parents. And the best way to do this is to put faith in 
them; and, dear children, when you grow up, and those 
who are with you now may be no more, you can look back 
and there is still a link between you if you now goto an 
affectionate parent or friend and ask what you do not 
know. The great thing in reading the Bible is to read it 
in a prayerful spirit, and whenever we ask for a right under- 
standing of the Holy Scripture let us also ask for the aid of 
the Holy Spirit, the Spirit whose teaching is so gentle, who 
seems to whisper within us and prompt us to do right, and. 
check us when we do wrong. Oh, let us invoke and call 
from God the aid of the Holy Spirit that we may under- 
stand the Holy Scriptures. Let us in reading the Bible at 
all times utter this prayer, “ O God, send down the light of 
Thy Holy Spirit to guide me, that I may understand what 
I read. Open thou my eyes, that I may see the wondrous 
things of Thy law.” 

J. W. 


LXXIV. Paul’s Sister’s Son. Acts xxiii. 16-24. 
“And when Pauls sisters son heard of their lying in watt, 
he went and entered into the castle, and told Paul. Then Paul 
called one of the centurions unto him, and said, Bring this 
young man unto the chief captain; for he hath a certain thing 
to tell him,” ete. 


WF all know something about Paul who wrote the Epistles, 
and who was first called Saul of Tarsus. There is not a 
more Christian man to be heard of than this Paul. Prob- 
ably there was not a man on the earth, just before the time 
of his conversion, who so hated Christ as Paul did. For 
Paul was a very self-righteous man ; and the idea of getting 
his debt paid by another and doing nothing himself, he 
positively hated, and sought to kill those who believed 
that was the way of salvation. 

Do you know what a Christian is? It is one who has 


222 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


found Christ crucified to be all his salvation and all his 
desire. Have you found this, that Christ is a heaven to 
the sinner? That is what a Christian finds out; that is 
what Paul found out on the day of his conversion; and 
from that day he lived together with Christ. 

This good man had two friends; they were relations, 
called Junia and Andronicus. There isa memorable thing 
he says about these two relations of his. He says, “TZhey 
were in Christ before me.” “They got into the city of 
refuge before me.” He says that as if he envied them, 
and as if he would say, “I wish I had gone in as soon 
as they.” 

Did you ever hear a person who said, I have come to 
Christ too soon? I never heard any one who said that ; 
but I have found people saying, “Oh, if I had come 
sooner, how much I might have done, and how much 
I might have enjoyed!” Junia and Andronicus came 
sooner than Paul, and probably by their prayers helped to 
bring about his conversion. 

There was an old Puritan called Mr. Doolittle. (Though 
his name was Doolittle he did a great deal—he was a most 
diligent worker.) He was once preaching to a congrega- 
tion. A young man came into a seat near the pulpit, and 
tried to keep near the end of it, so that he might easily 
get out; but the people closed up, and the young man was 
fairly jammed in, and could not get away. He sat still 
when he found he could do no better. Mr. Doolittle was 
setting forth Christ, and all at once looked up to the 
gallery to an old man, and said, “ Friend, are you sorry 
that you came to Christ so many years ago?” The old 
man rose up and said, “ No, sir, I rejoice that I have known 
Him so long; and He is always becoming more precious 
to me.” He turned to another on the left, and said, “ Are 
you sorry that you came so soon to Jesus?” “No, sir, 
but I am sorry that I did not come sooner.” Then he 
looked down on the young man, and said, “ Have you 
come to Jesus?” The young man did not know what 
to say. He said again, “ Young man, have you come to 
Christ?” and got for answer, “No, sir.” “Are you willing 
to come?” And the young man looked up again, and 
said, “Yes.” “And when will you come—now?” Having 
fully gained his attention, he set before him a waiting 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 223 


Christ; and the young man was brought to Christ that 
night. 

The text is about the nephew of Paul—the son of 
Paul’s sister. 

First of all, he was a Christian—a Christian lad. 

Second: He was a lad that had much love to his uncle. 

Third: Notice how God made use of him on behalf of 
his uncle. 

Fourth: Notice what we owe to this young man because 
of what he did for his uncle. 

Fifth: Observe that he got a reward, and he is going to 
get more. 

I. I believe e was a Christian lad—My reason for 
thinking this young man to be a Christian is this: it 
is quite clear he did not belong to the Jewish party any 
longer. He was very different from those that lay in wait 
for Paul’s life. We havea good notion what people are by 
their companions. The Apostle John says, “Every one 
that loveth Him that begat loveth them that are begotten 
of ‘Him.” Every one that loves Christ loves Christ’s 
family—His brothers, His children. This lad was one of 
these, and so we infer that he was a Christian ; he took his 
uncle’s side, and did it at a time that was very, trying. It 
was at a great risk he took his uncle’s side; and yet his 
heart was with him, because his uncle was on Christ’s 
side. 

He must have been a young lad. I don’t think he was 
twenty—I scarcely think he was sixteen. When the chief 
captain saw him, what did he do? Just what he would 
have done with a young lad not grown up. He “took him 
by the hand”—doesn’t that show him quite a boy ?—and 
said, “ Well, my lad, what have you come to tell me?” 

Il. He loved his uncle very much—tIt was natural he 
should. He must have attracted those that were young. 
He was a man who was very amiable ; and this lad would 
like his own uncle, and like him for his amiable qualities. 
And then, grace makes a person have more love to 
relatives than ever ; the more love to Christ we have, the 
more love to our friends. You might think, “Oh, if I love 
Christ very much, there will not be room for my friends.” 
But it is just the other way; our love to our friends 
becomes the stronger and more tender Have you read 


; 
224 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. ] 


—_— 


what a child said to her parents when dying: “I do not : 
know how it is, I always liked you, but since I loved Christ 
I like you far better.” This young man had much love to” 
his uncle, and the special way he showed it was this :— 

His uncle was in the castle, the great tower built at the 
side of the Temple, which they called Fort Antonia ; and 
you got into it from the Temple by a flight of steps. 
Paul was a prisoner up in that high tower. He was taken 
there by the captain; and, when lying there, this nephew 
of his found out about a conspiracy, for the Jews were 
talking about it in Jerusalem. He was a lad of a good 
deal of sense. He does not seem to have told anybody 
what was in his mind, but just said this to himself, “I will 
risk my life for my uncle.” So he goes to the castle, and 
asks to be allowed to speak to his uncle, and told him. 

His uncle hears it very calmly, as he used to do, and 
then he says, “Well, let us pray about it;” and they 
prayed about it. Then he says, “ Now, Ill tell you what 
we will do. When you go out, tell the centurion to speak 
to me.” 

You may be sure that this young man risked a great 
deal for Paul. For what would these forty men not do to 
him when they found out that Paul had escaped through 
him? What did you ever risk for the love of Christ and 
His people? Have you risked the favour of anybody ? 
Can you bear being laughed at? Can you bear a joke 
against you for being a Christian ? 

III. How God used him.—Paul told him to call one of 
the centurions. The centurion came, and Paul said to him, 
“Will you take this young friend of mine to the captain, 
and say that he has got a certain thing to tell him?” 
Paul was always favoured by those about him. He wasa 
kindly man, everybody liked him. When he was on board 
ship going to Rome, why, he seemed to have command of 
the ship ; they all felt his influence. The centurion obeyed 
him, and took the young man to the captain. God has 
extraordinary ways of delivering His people when in 
danger, but sometimes very simple ways. John Knox, in 
that house of his still standing near the Canongate, was 
just on the point of being killed by a wicked man firing 
a pistol through the window ; but before the pistol was 
Gred, God put it into the heart of John Knox to rise from 


2ERMONS TO CHILDREN. 225 


his seat and go to another part of the room to get a book. 
The shot came at that moment, and John Knox was saved 
in that simple way. Perhaps you may have heard how 
God saved a Puritan prisoner in England when a justice of 
the peace was determined to send him to prison. A little 
child began to play with the prisoner. He was a kindly 
man, and he soon gained the confidence of the child. He 
was kept some twenty minutes in the hall, till the little 
girl and he became great friends ; and when the justice, 
who was the little girl’s own father, was going to send him 
to prison, she said, “ You shall not send him to prison. If 
you send him to prison,” she said, “I will kill myself—I 
will drown myself.” She was a little girl, but a great 
favourite ; and her father at last said, “ Well, I will set him 
free for your sake.” See what God can do! 

Even so He used this nephew to get Paul out of this 
great danger; and it was very simply done. “You have 
something to tell me?” said the chief captain; “come 
away and we will speak of it alone.” He was pleased with 
the young man, finding him to be a modest young man. 
He must also have been a youth who was very ¢ruthful ; 
for these reasons: His uncle at once believed what he 
said ; and whenever the captain heard the story, he acted 
upon it. 

You see what it is to have a character for honesty, for 
truthfulness; and it is possible to have a noble character 
when young. 

The captain acted on the young man’s information ; 
and orders out his troops—two centurions, two hundred 
soldiers, two hundred spearmen, and seventy horsemen 
with them ; and Paul in the midst, surrounded by so many 
guards, is just as safe, you may say, as ifa band of angels 
were around him. God called out the soldiers of the 
governor on his behalf, and they marched with him to 
Czsarea. What an awful disappointment to these forty 
wicked fellows! The snare is broken, Paul has escaped— 
and all through this young man. 

Young people, God can use you. Perhaps he has 
a use for you now, if you will just put yourself in His 

nd. 

IV. What we owe him—He saved his uncle's life at 
this time. If Paul’s life had not been saved, we should not 


226 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
—— 
have had some of the rich letters in our Bible, such as the 
Epistles to the Ephesians and to the Philippians. We 
should have lost some of the sweet texts we so delight in. 
You would have lost that text—“Children, obey your 
parents in the Lord, for this is right. This is the first 
commandment with promise.” Paul would have children © 
as well as grown-up people attended to. And if Paul’s 
life had not been saved at this time, we should not have 
had his letters to Timothy, and we should not have heard 
of him “ knowing the Scriptures from a child;” and we 
should not have heard of Timothy’s mother and grand- 
mother teaching him. We are indebted to that young 
man for all these precious things, in a certain way ; for 
he was the instrument in God’s hands of saving his 
uncle’s life. 

V. Last of all, about his reward—When you do service 
for God, it is not good to think a great deal about the 
reward. When you do kind things to one another, it 
should not be because you expect some advantage. Christ 
said, “When you give a great supper, do not make it for 
those who can recompense you; but for the poor, the halt, 
and the maimed, for they cannot recompense you.” This 
is best of all—to do kind things to people that cannot 
recompense you. “You will be recompensed in the 
resurrection of the just.” This young man had not the 
least idea of a reward; but he has had already a great 
reward—he has got his story in the Bible. 

But besides, there is a great reward waiting for him ; for 
Christ has said that if you give even a cup of cold water 
to a disciple, you shall in no wise lose your reward. He 
describes the giving of it in the 25th chapter of Matthew, 
where He says that He regards what is done to His people 
as done to Himself, and will say to them, “Come, ye 
blessed.” 

See how God rewards those that do kind things to His 
- people! If you love Christ, you will love His people, and 
try to do kind things to them. Are you trying? If you 
are, God will open a way to you. Do you know any sick 
person? You could perhaps sing a hymn to that person, 
or speak a kind word, or drop in for five or ten minutes 
with just a kind look. Are your parents Christ’s people ? 
You should be ten times kinder to them than ever before, 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 227 


for Christ’s sake. In every way try to get the rewarc 
Christ gives. 

But are you one of Christ’s children? Oh, it will be 
dreadful if you are not found in Christ! for you know 
about Him ; and that if you come to-night, you will bea 
saved sinner. And why will you not come? 

There was a man out at the gold diggings who had a 
large piece of land, and it was said there was gold there. 
He tried to find the gold, but at last gave it up, and the 
land was sold to others. 

Soon a report went abroad that large nuggets had been 
found, and every day they were finding more. When the 
man who had parted with the land heard of it, he gnashed 
his teeth, and went out of his mind with rage at himself 
for his folly. Even so, Christ says there are people who 
will “gnash their teeth,’ when they see Abraham and 
Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom, and the prophets, and 
they themselves shut out ! 

Paul, when warned of the conspiracy against him, at 
once took the way of escape from it. There is a far more 
terrible conspiracy against you; for Satan and his hosts 
are all bent on yourruin. Why not escape at once, for all 
things are ready? 

A. A. B. 


LXXV. TheAccount. Rom. xiv.12. “ Zvery one of us 
shall give account of himself to God.” 


WHAT is the account? “Of ourselves.” I need scarcely 
explain what this means. There is a boy who left his 
home in the morning to go to school. At dinner-time 
he does not appear, and in the afternoon at five o’clock, 
there is still no word of him. And when his mother 
goes to make inquiry she finds he has not been at school 
all day. She becomes anxious about him, afraid lest 
he should have met with some accident, or have been 
led away by other wicked boys; or, it may be, even have 
run off to sea to be a sailor; and the neighbours are all 
astir, and they are fancying the worst, till at length, when 
it is just about time for going to bed, the runaway appears, 
wet, and cold, and dirty, and tired, and hungry. The first 


228 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


thing his mother says to him is, “ Johnnie, where have you 
been? what has come over you? what have you been 
doing ? Give an account of yourself?’ You all know what 
she means when she says that. 

And there is another boy, who has gone to be apprentice 
toa grocer. His master is as kind to him as any master 
can be, for he is an orphan, and behaves to him like a 
father, and so he is grieved to learn that his young ap- 
prentice is going far wrong. He is taking his master’s 
money, and putting away his goods, and wasting his time 
whenever his back is turned, and taking up with bad com- 
pany, and learning to drink and to smoke, and going to 
the theatre, where Satan likes young people to go, because 
there they learn so much that is evil, and get so quickly 
ready for doing his work on earth and going to be with 
him in hell. Well, there is nothing for it but he must turn 
him away in disgrace; and so he takes him into his little 
room, and sits down right opposite to him, and looking 
him full in the face he says, “ What is this you have been 
doing? what account have you to give of yourself?” You 
know what he means when he says that. 

Well, just so is the day coming when God shall require 
account from His truant, wayward, disobedient children, 
His unfaithful, ungrateful servants. Few people think of 
that, whether children or men and women. They go on 
in their sin, and enjoy themselves the best way they can, 
and disobey God, and forget God, and serve the devil, as 
if they had nothing else to do, as if nothing else were ex- 
pected of them, as if there were no account to be rendered. 
Solomon seeing them in his day, just as now, living as if 
they were mere butterflies, as if they had no precious souls 
to be saved or lost, and no heaven or hell to look forward 
to, and no God to answer to, puts in the solemn warning, 
“ But know thou, that for all these things God will bring 
thee into judgment.” 

Yes, dear children, hear what God’s word says, “It is 
appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judg- 
ment!” Have you ever thought of this “judgment,” in 
which we shall have to give account of ourselves? It is 
an account of ourselves we have to give, not of other people, 
not of our neighbours, not of this or the other boy or girl, 
but each of himself and herself; and that is the most 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 229 


difficult account of all, the hardest, that which people like 
worst. It is an easy thing to give an account of others, 
we are all ready enough to do that, whether young or old 
—we can tell what this one and the other one has done. 
But to give account of one's self/ and to have no way of 
getting away from it! that is the difficulty. 

It is a dreadful thing to think of /¢vzmg with such a load 
of sin to account for; it is a more dreadful thing to think 
of dying with it. How can you be happy in such a case— 
how can you live happily, committing sin every day—sin 
still unforgiven? How can you expect to die happily, 
while this text stands written in the Bible, “Every one of 
us shall give account of himself to God.” Can you lay 
down this book as you took it up—careless? Can you go 
to rest this night again, unpardoned ? What if you should 
never awake? Will you not go straightway and offer up 
the prayer, “ Lord, have mercy upon me, and take away 
my sins, for Jesus’ sake”? You know there are some 
substances that take out marks made by ink: nothing in 
all the world but one can take out the marks of sin. Who 
can tell me what itis? THE BLOOD OF CHRIST. “The 
blood of Jesus Christ, God’s son, cleanseth us from all sin.” 
The dying time is coming, will you not get ready for it? 
will you not be like that young Hindu, just about to die, 
saying, “Sing, brother, sing”? “What shall I sing?” 
“Sing of salvation through the blood of Jesus. Sing, 
thanks be to Him who giveth us the victory through the 
blood of Jesus ;” and then he sinks back and dies. 


J. H. W. 


LXXVI. Living Epistles. 2 Cor. iii. 2,3. “Ye are 
our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: 
Sorasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of 
Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the 
Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy 
tables of the heart.” 


AN epistle is a letter. The true Christians at Corinth 
served as letters to recommend both Paul the servant 
and Christ the Lord. The neighbours whether Jews or 


te 


30 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


heathens, learned from the holy life of the converts that 
the minister who taught them was true, and that the 
Saviour in whom they believed was Divine. The Apostle 
starts with the thought that the Corinthian disciples were a 
certificate in favour of himself as a minister, but he soon 
glides from that thought into a greater thing ; he goes on 
to speak of the Corinthian disciples as being like written 
letters, in which all men may read of Christ. 

It is of this second and greater thing that we propose to 
speak. Our subject is: Christians are epistles of Christ. 
The text tells five things about this kind of letter :— 

I. Zhe Paper, or the material on which the marks are 
made. Many different substances have been employed in 
successive ages of the world to receive and retain written 
words, but one feature is common to them all: in their 
natural state they are not fit to be used as writing materials ; 
they require a process of preparation. The reeds, and 
leaves, and skins which were used as writing materials by 
the ancients, all needed a process of preparation; and 
therein they are like the living epistles of Jesus Christ, who 
must be renewed in the spirit of their minds ere they show 
forth the Redeemer’s likeness in their life. But the prepara- 
tion of modern materials for writing, although it was not 
directly before the Apostle’s mind, contains in fact more’ 
points of likeness to the renewing and sanctifying of be- 
lievers than any of the ancient arts. 

Although the text does not directly refer to paper—a 
substance invented long after it was written—there is a 
remarkable likeness between the method of its manu- 
facture and the work of the Spirit on a disciple’s heart and 
life in preparing them to be epistles of Christ. “ Filthy 
rags” are the raw material of the manufacture. These 
are with great care and labour broken very small, and 
washed very clean; they are then cast into a new form, 
and brought out pure and beautiful, ready to get a new 
meaning impressed on their smooth, bright breast. Paper 
from rags is, in an obvious and important sense, “a new 
creature.” 

Such a process of breaking down and building up again 
takes places every time that the writing material is pre- 
pared for an epistle of Christ. You might as well try 
to write with pen and ink upon the rubbish<from which 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 231 


paper is marufactured, as expect legible evidence for the 
truth of the gospel in the life and spirit of one who has 
not gotten “a clean heart ”—who has not been born again. 

Christ does not find on earth any pure ; He makes them. 
Those that stand around the throne in white clothing 
were gathered from the mire. They were once darkness, 
though they are now light in the Lord. Let no one 
think that he can be taken to heaven because he is good; 
but let no one think Christ will not receive him because he 
is evil. Him that cometh, Christ will in no wise cast out. 
“The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.” 

Not on tables of stone, like those on which the Law was 
graven, but on tables of flesh must the mind and likeness 
of Christ be written. Give the Lord your heart. He 
desires that His own name and holiness should be written 
there. Surrender it to Him, that He may blot out its 
stains, and mark it for His own. 

Il. Zhe Writing, or the mind and meaning which is 
fixed on the prepared page. It is not Christianity printed 
in the creed, but Christ written in the heart. The mind of 
Christ is so graven in the heart that His likeness shines 
through in the life. 

It is well understood that a person’s character may be 
best learned from his letters. These seem to be windows 
in his breast through which you may see his nature. How 
eagerly the public read the letters of a great man, if they 
are printed after his death! People expect to know 
better by these than by any other means what the man 
really was. 

As our Redeemer left no monument of Himself in brass 
or marble, so He left no letters written by His own hand. 
He did not write his mind on tables of stone or on sheets 
of parchment. Even Rome, with all her rage for relics, 
does not pretend to show the Saviour’s handwriting. Yet 
He has not left Himself without a witness. He has left 
“epistles of Christ.” True disciples, whether young or 
old, when He desires to let the world know Himself, He 
points to you! The world judges of Christianity chiefly 
from the life of Christians. 

Ill. Zhe Writer. The letter is written by the Spirit 
of the living God. Some writings and paintings look well 
enough for a while, but are easily rubbed off by rough 


232 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


usage, or grow faint with age. Only fast colours are truly 
valuable. 

How shall we get a writing or a likeness made durable 
on the human heart? One thing we know, many beautiful 
things in book and lip, which people admire for a day, 
are blotted out soon. Lessons that human hands lay on 
are not able to stand the world’s rough usage. 

No writing on a human soul is certainly durable except 
that which the Spirit of God lays on. It is when the truth 
from the Bible is pressed into the soul by the Holy Spirit 
that any one becomes a new creature. Old things pass 
away, and henceforth the Christian bears about upon his 
character the likeness of Christ. 

IV. The Pen. In writing the new name and new 
nature on the tables of the heart, the Holy Spirit employs 
some instrument. It is expressly said in the text that 
Paul and the young evangelist who assisted him had a 
hand in the work. The terms, “ministered by us,” show 
the place of man in the work of conversion and purifying. 
It is not a high place that the minister stands in, but it is 
the right place, and he cannot be dispensed with. 
¢ In photography it is the sun that makes the portrait. 

/ There is no drawing of the outline by a human hand, and 
' no shading of the figure according to rules of the painter’s 
_art. The person stands up in the light, and the light lays 
_ his image on the glass, Yet in this work there is room for 
the ministry of man. Without the ministry of man the 
| work could not in any case be done. A human hand pre- 
| pares the plate for securing the picture, and adjusts the 
| instrument for throwing the light at the proper moment on 
\.the prepared surface. Although in the real work of making 
the picture the artist has no hand at all—although he has 
nothing more to do in the end than stand still, as Israel 
did at the Red Sea, and see the work done by the sun—his 
place is important and necessary. 

A similar place under the ministry of the Spirit is given 
to the ministry of men. God does not send angels to make 
the gospel known. We learn it from men of flesh and 
blood like ourselves. Cornelius and his house will be 
saved, but Peter must go from Joppa to Czsarea and open 
up to them the way of salvation. Nor does he confine 
Himself to any class of instruments or any age. “ Minister- 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 233 


ing children” are often used to bring the word home in 
power, where older ministers are not admitted. A child 
forgiven through the blood of Christ, and loving the Lord 
that bought him, may be employed, like a little vessel, to 
convey the water of life to another child whose heart is 
like the dry ground. 

V. The Readers. They are a great number, and of 
various kinds. The words have a very wide range, for it is 
said that these letters are “known and read of all men.” 
The meaning is, that the writing is not a letter sealed 
or locked up in a desk, but exposed daily to public view. 
These epistles walk about upon the streets, and mingle 
with the crowds in the market-place. Every one who likes 
may read them: they are open to all. Some who look on 
the letters are enemies, and someare friends. If an enemy 
see Christ truly represented in a Christian, he may be 
turned thereby from darkness to light ; but if he see false- 
hood and envy and anger and worldliness in one who is 
called a Christian, he will probably be more hardened in 
his unbelief. Those who already know and love the truth 
are glad when they read it clearly written in a neighbour’s 
life—are grieved when they see a false image of the Lord 
held up to the eyes of men. Christians, old and young, 
seeing that you are epistles of Christ open to public gaze, 
read by friend and foe, what manner of persons ought you 
to be in all holy conversation and godliness ? 

Take some lessons from this subject :— 

(1) Every one’s life is an open letter. Some are epistles 
of Christ, some are epistles of vanity, of covetousness, of 
selfishness. The spirit that reigns within is more or less 
visible outwardly in the life. 

(2) Some letters are forgeries. Some lives are forgeries 
too. They give out that they are epistles of Christ, while 
they are not. 

(3) The letter should be clearly written, and so easily 
read. 

We shall not be of much use in a blinded world until the 
mind of Christ shall have been so substantially embossed 
upon our whole life that in the various jostlings of the 
world those who shut their eyes to the doctrine of the 
gospel shall be compelled to feel, as they press against us, 
what it is to be a Christian W. A. 


234 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


LXXVII. A Gift. 2 Cor. viii.5. “ Zhey first gave their own- 
selves to the Lord.” 


IT happened thus. One day a man came to the place 
where these people lived. He was not a handsome man, 
He was not arich man. He was not a man of rank or of 
style. Hecame there only to preach. He told them that 
he had dreamt, and in his dream had seen one pointing to 
that very place, and crying, “Come over and help us.” 
And so he had come, and all the help he could offer was 
—to preach. But oh, he did preach. A Chinese Christian 
once said, “ We want men of hot hearts to come and speak 
to us of the love of Christ.” The hot heart was in the 
preaching of that man. Well, then, the people listened. 
Some sneered, “Oh, he is mad.” Others exclaimed, “ Oh, 
he is a fanatic; we have no time for such new-fangled 
doctrine.” But others thought and felt. They made three 
grand discoveries. A Roman Catholic once sat down to 
read the Bible. He was interested, and he said to his wife, 
“Let us read a part every night.” They did so for about 
a week, when the man stopped. ‘“ Wife, if this book is 
true, we are wrong.” Two or three evenings passed. 
Again the man stopped. “ Wife, if this book is true, we 
are lost.” Now deeply anxious, he continued to read. 
And by-and-by again he stopped ; but his face was lighted 
up with a new joy. “Wife, if this book is true, we are 
saved.” The Macedonians, hearing the preacher with the 
hot heart, said to themselves, first, “We are wrong ;” next, 
“We are lost;” and then, “ But we are saved.” And as 
they looked to the Saviour whom he set before them, they 
gave themselves to the Lord. 

I. You are to give your ownselves—Does that mean that 
I am to say my prayers, and read the Bible, and go to 
church, and do what is kind and good? Certainly ; but 
you may do all this with your ownself not given. There 
is something more. When you give your own to another, 
this is an action with knowledge, with heart, and once for 
all. Keep this in mind, and you will see what it is to give 
yourselves to Jesus. 

It is the present of a thoughtful mind. You remember 
the line in the hymn, “Pll pause before J further run, and 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 235 


| give myself to God.” Let every girl or boy pause, think 


decide. Your parents gave you to God when they pre- 


_ sented you at baptism. The name of the Father, Son, 
_and Holy Ghost has been named upon you. You are 


under solemn covenant to be the Lord’s. But you are 
not giving your ownself, unless calmly, earnestly, you 
give your Amen, knowing that you do so, and what your 


_ doing so means. Have you thus consented to take Jesus 


Christ to be your Master, and to be guided in all — 
by Him? 

It is the present of a loving heart. That is no right oift 
which does not come from the heart. What is sought is 
your heart. There is a desk not far from me which has a 
secret drawer. The only thing needed is to find the spring. 
When you touch it, the drawer flies open. So it is with 
us. The secret drawer in our ownselves is the heart, and 
the spring of the heart is love. Whoever can touch that 
has the way to the drawer. Get any one’s love, and you 
get that one’s self. A poor Indian, listening to the story 
of Christ’s love, was moved. The spring was touched. 
“Massa,” he cried, “I give Jesus my gun.” Then he 
thought of something more. “ Massa, my dog.” Some- 
thing more still. “And here my buffalo skin.” “Oh, but 
Jesus does not want these,” said the missionary. “Then 
I will give myself.” Love is never content until it says 
to the loved, “ Here am I.” The present of a trinket, of 
even the costliest article, will not suffice. Personal de- 
votion, personal service—“ Here am I”—that must be. 
Who of you has that for Christ ?—your ownself given to 
the Lord. 

Then follows the present of this self once for all. Is it 
not a shabby thing, when you intend to give a present, to 
be thinking how much you will need to give, and how 
much you may keep for yourself? Is it not a shabby 
thing ‘also, when you have once given, to be asking or 


_seeking back again? There is nothing of that if the gift 


comes from love, Now, let me remind you of a Bible- 
picture of true self-giving ; let me remind you of what was 
done by the priest in the old time to one who was to be 
cleansed. The priest took some of the blood of the tres- 
pass offering and put it on the tip of the right ear, and on 
the thumb of the right hand, and on the great toe of the 


236 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


EO 


right foot. What was that to teach? The right hand or 
foot, you know, is the strongest: all his strength was to © 


be given. The ear is the organ of knowledge: all his 
power of receiving is to be given. Hand and foot are the 
ways of serving: all his capacity of serving, of working, of 
being of use is to be given. You have seen a crystal glass 
with a light in the middle. The light shines through every 


part of the glass. Well, when love to Christ is in the 


middle of the heart, its light shines through eye, ear, 
hands, lips, body, soul, spirit, saying to all, “ Whatsoever 
He saith to you, do it.” “Yea, let Him take all,” is the 
cry. 
ve “Take myself, and I will be, 
Ever, only, all for Thee.” 

Il. The reason why you should give yourselves—When 
any one gives a present there is some reason for it. What 
is the reason for this gift? There are many reasons, but 
we shall only mention three: 

(1) To give your ownselves to the Lord is right. God 
has a right to what He has made. Jesus the Redeemer 
has a right to His purchase. The Holy Spirit has a right 
to make your hearts His dwelling-place. 

(2) It is for your good and happiness. You give your- 
self, and in so doing you have God himself. This is your 
happiness ; it satisfies all your longings; it gives you an 
object to live for, which ennobles all your energy. “How 
sweet it is,’ said one who had given himself to the Lord in 
the gloom of the prison, “to hear the bird in the bosom 
sing!” So every boy and girl may have this singing bird, 
this fount of music and joy in the soul, if they first give 
themselves to the Lord. 

(3) It is for the world’s good and happiness. So it was 
with these Macedonians. No sooner had they made them- 
selves over to Christ than they felt joined by a new love 
and desire to those for whom He died. They were poor, 
but in their poverty their liberality abounded. Christ 
needs such Christians now. This world would be a whole- 
somer and happier world if there were more of the love 
and unselfishness and free-souled giving which flows from 
the first gift—“ their ownselves to the Lord.” 

UML 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 237 


i.XXXVIII. God’s Unspeakable Gift. 2 Cor. ix. 15, 
“* Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.” 


WHO does not likea “gift”? It may not be worth much, 
it may be far inferior to what we have every day of our 
lives, but there is something so pleasant about it—as in 
a garden, a single bright-winged butterfly attracts and 
entrances us more than the flowers do, however varied 
and beautiful they may be. Is it not because the flowers 
are our own, we are familiar with them ; but the butterfly 
is a surprise, and we feel flattered by his free-will visit 
to us. 

Who does not remember the toy presents of our child- 
hood—the dolls, the Noah’s ark, the hobby-horse ; and then 
the more solid present of our boy or girlhood—the charm- 
ing books, and the live animals entrusted to our care? and 
even when we are grown up we are not above them. No 
Christmas turkey eats so sweetly as that which arrives 
with a card and compliments; and no cloak and hood so 
become “baby” as those which a kind friend smuggled 
into the house in a band-box. The custom of making 
presents is as old as the Bible. We read of them in 
Genesis. Jacob, for instance, was remarkable for them. 
We read of his gift of a coat of many colours to Joseph; 
his gift of sheep and cattle to his brother Esau ; his gift 
of “a little honey, spices, and almonds” to the ruler 
of Egypt. Araunah’s kingly gift to his monarch is 
another Scripture example; so is the wise men’s gift to 
the infant Jesus, and Mary’s precious ointment poured on 
His head. 

Now New Year is the season for gifts. The shop win- 
dows crammed full of them tell us that,—our own recollec- 
tions tell us the same, and so do our feelings. Who, at such 
atime, does not wish to send presents to those we love? 
‘Let us then think awhile of God’s “unspeakable gift ” 
to us. 

I. Notice the Giver of the gift. 

St. Paul says that this is God: “ Thanks be unto God for 
Hits unspeakable gift.” Directly you have a gift you en- 
quire, who sent zt ?—-for a deal depends upon that—whethe1 
it comes from a friend or an enemy, from a poor person ax 


238 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


-arich person. You would not expect much from those 
who are struggling for a living—it is almost painful to 
have them bring you of their poverty; but if the queen 
gives anything, it is taken for granted that it will be 
splendid—a gold watch, or a diamond pin, or a pearl 
bracelet. If she condescended to enter a cottage, people 
would be sure to look on the chair for a five-pound note or 
a pile of sovereigns. We should say, “She is so liberal, so 
noble, and so wealthy, she drops presents as an engine does 
sparks, wherever she goes.” 

Now God has “ every good and perfect gift ” in His hand ; 
they are but the crumbs which fall from His table. He has 
been giving from the foundation of the world, and yet He is 
not in the least impoverished. How can a Creator be! A 
Being who by a word can turn water into wine, and multi- 
ply a baker’s loaf into bread for thousands of hungry 
mouths! And He is as willing to give as He is able. It 
is His delight to load us with benefits. No mother is 
happier in kissing her darlings, decking them with her 
own furs on a cold morning, and seeing them leap for joy 
around her, than is our heavenly Father in dropping 
blessings on us, and crowning us with His tender mercies. 
And yet He is so infinite, and we so feeble; He is so holy, 
and we are so sinful. The Psalmist turned from con- 
sidering the moon and the stars, to cry, “ Lord, what is 
man, that Thou art mindful of him!” How well may we 
turn from considering God’s unspeakable gift, and join in 
that cry! 

But so it is. God zs mindful of us—the glorious God ; 
and the unspeakable gift is actually zs present to us. 

II. Notice the gift itself. 

It is Jesus, the meek and lowly Jesus of the Gospels ; 
and everything else such as forgiveness, grace, eternal life 
in Him. 

A white carrier dove alighted upon a prisoner’s floor ; the 
prisoner said, “It is merely a pigeon ;” and he threw it a 
crust, and then went on with his work. By-and-by he tried 
to drive it away. At length he was struck with its tame- 
ness, and catching it up, he found tied beneath its wing a 
letter, promising him aid in escaping, and enclosing a latch- 
key and a sum of money. The dove had been thrown in 
from the street on this errand. 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 239 


Now, similarly, Jesus is nought to us until we receive 
Him into our bosoms as our own ;—then, with and in Him, 
we have whatever is needful to deliver us from Satan, and 
insure us God’s immediate and everlasting favour! God 
intends that He shall fetch us back to more than Adam 
lost in Eden; that He shall be our “ righteousness ” and 
our “strength.” Jesus is yours and mine, if we open our 
hearts toHim. “ Unto us achzld zs given,” said the prophet 
Isaiah. The angel re-echoed that when he said to the 
shepherds, “ Unio you zs born this day in the city of David 
a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.’ The Apostle is 
sending it on here to us, when he says, “Thanks be unto 
God for His unspeakable gz/¢” to us,—Jesus. 

It was the gift of a Redeemer, without whose death we 
must have perished. 

It was the gift of a Teacher, without whose instruction we 
must have wandered on in ignorance, 

It was the gift of a Brother, without whose sympathy we 
must have fainted at the prospect of duty and trial. 

But this anticipates our third point. 

III. Notice the greatness of the gift. 

He could have given us myriads of things which would 
have excited our astonishment, but they could not have 
helped us. What could a planet or a comet have done for 
us, though they were to be called after us, and obey our 
orders? But He chose for us what was superior to the 
whole universe ; just what we required, but what we could 
not have dared to hope for—He gave us His dearest, His 
best, His co-equal ! 

It was indeed an “unspeakable” gift, for it was so amaz- 
ing ! It was next to Jehovah, and it was Jehovah. It was 
the Owner of the flock giving Himself to rescue the flock 
from the snow-drift or the precipice. It was the Almighty 
giving Himself for His creatures. The cherubim and 
seraphim must have hidden their faces in dismay as they - 
saw Him carrying His cross to Calvary! they had been 
wont to worship Him, to fly like lightning at His com- 
mand. 

It was “unspeakable,” because he is so surpassingly 
lovely. He was lovely in His character, in His speech, in 
His actions, in His devotion to God and us. What guilt 
was there in Him? was He not without blemish; the 


” 


240 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


express image of God? What love shot out of Him and 
hovered around Him! how His garments smelt of myrrh, 
aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces ! 

It was “ unspeakable,” because it was for such vile objects. 
We were so mean and undeserving. How you would 
admire a princess who walked miles in a burning desert to 
relieve a company of lepers, or who sold herself into slavery 
to be of use to a plantation of miserable negroes! But 
Jesus did more than this for us, who were worms in com- 
parison with Himself. 

It is “unspeakable,” because it does such vast things 
Jor us. Without it we were certainly doomed to hell; 
without it, it would have been impossible for God to 
pardon us. 

It rids us of our burdens; it sheds peace abroad in our 
consciences; it unfolds to us the smile of God; it is our 
key to the grave; it is our title to mansions in the skies. 
When ages upon ages of joy unspeakable have gone by, we 
shall owe every moment of it to God’s “ unspeakable gift.” 
Then,— 

IV. Notice the gratitude which becomes us. 

A bedridden Esquimaux said to a missionary, “When 
you begin to read to me about Jesus, sir, 1 am as hard asa 
block of ice ; when you finish and go away, I am melted 
into water.” “The story of Jesus,” said an African, “is my 
hymn, my prayer, my Bible. I weep over it when I can't 
sing about it ; and I sing over it when I can’t weep about 
it. This is true, that I thank God for it from the soul of 
my foot to the top of my head.” 

And what are we about? Where is our harp? Can we 
not thank God for it with ous lips? Ought we not to try 
to praise Him for it when we wake and ere we sleep, as 
well as in our churches and chapels? Closet melodies 
should be as frequent as closet petitions. Have Watts, and 
Wesley, and Cowper written their exquisite verses for 
private use in vain? Do they never rise to God from our 
lips ? 

or we not thank him with our sfzrz¢s 2 When there is 
no music outwardly, there may be music within. Pious 
affection may be kindled by recollection, and glow and 
burn as a fire; and God can make‘its secret blaze “under 
the fig-tree.” 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 241 


Lastly, can we not thank him by our conduct ; by walk- 
ing before Him so blamelessly and wisely that we may 
testify to others how faithful His promises are, how easy 
His yoke, how real and powerful His presence with those 
who have accepted His unspeakable gift. Endeavour to 
“adorn” your Christian profession; and then, assuredly, 
you will be thanking Him for it. 

But 4ave you accepted this unspeakable gift yet? Sup- 
pose I met a royal messenger returning from your door with 
an ornament which an empress might be proud to wear, and 
saying : “This is a gift from Her Majesty to that young lady 
who bears Her Majesty’s name, but I cannot obtain admis- 
sion ; I have knocked till I am tired ; this is the fifth or 
sixth attempt at intervals. She evidently listens ; but she 
is too careless or engaged to attend. Once she glanced at 
it from behind the curtains ; and once she unfastened the 
lock, and was just slipping the bolt, but her pet dog 
barked, or her parrot whistled, and she sauntered back to 
them ; so I fear I must report it to Her Majesty, and she 
will change her purpose regarding it.” What should I say 
to that messenger for you? How could I excuse you and 
plead for you? But beware, lest you are doing that very 
thing to God’s messengers who are commissioned to urge 
upon you His unspeakable gift. 

Is that to be trifled with? Is that to be declined till it 
suit your convenience? Oh, by the awful consequences of 
missing it, I beseech you to claim and clasp it as your own 
this moment ! 

J. B. 


LXXIX. Sowing. Gat. vi. 7. “ Whatsoever a@ man 
soweth, that shall he also reap.” 


Just as the early months of the year are the sowing-time 
of the gardener and farmer, on which the flowers and the 
vegetables of the summer and the crops of the harvest will 
depend, so the early years of your life are your sowing-time, 
which will go far to determine what the harvest of your 
later years and of your eternity shall be (Gal. vi. 7). 

I can fancy some mischievous boy scattering vegetable 
seeds—peas, or beans, or lettuce seeds—over the flower- 
beds in spring ; or flower seeds—Indian cress, or wallflower, 

R 


242 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


— 


or candytuft, or marigolds—over the vegetable-beds. The 
gardener would call out to him, “Stop, boy; do you know 
what you are doing? You are sowg. It is not as if 
you were scattering clay, or stones, or bits of wood. These 
seeds will grow; they will spring up again; and what a 
sight the garden will be!” 

Now your life is just like that. It may seem mere 
amusement to some. You may scarcely think what you 
are doing. But it is as really sowing as in the case I have 
supposed. 

I. The sowers—who are they? We are ad/ sowers, 
every one of us. In the other sowing, it is the farmer or 
the gardener; but in the sense in which we are now looking 
at it, everybody is a sower. Every one who “ves, sows. 
You areasower. You are sowing. Your life is a planting 
of seeds, good or bad, which must all, sooner or later, bear 
fruit after their kind. I wish I could get you to believe 
and remember, “I am @ sower/ my life is a sowing!” 

II. The seed—what is it? Of course, if we are sowers, 
there must be seed which we sow. There can be no real 
sowing without seed. I have seen infant scholars going 
through the different trades, imitating the workmen in 
each. I have heard them singing, “This is the way we 
sow the corn,” suiting the action to the word. But it was 
not real sowing, for there was no seed. It was mere imita- 
tion. It was playing at sowing. But ours is a veal sowing, 
for there is veal seed. And if youask, “ What is the seed ?” 
I answer, Everything that we do. My actions are all seeds, 
which I am planting in the field of my 4/z, in the garden 
of my fe, My work, my play, my lessons at home and at 
school, during the week or on the Lord’s day, my reading, 
my amusements—each is @ seed which I am sowing, for 
this life and for the life to come. And when it comes to 
an end, your life will be like a field, every part of which is 
sown with seed. 

Have you ever thought of this? Nothing you do is 
done with. You may have forgotten it. But it is no more 
done with than the seed that is buried in the ground, and 
will spring up by-and-by. “ Whatsoever a man soweth,” 
is just the same as saying, “ whatsoever a man does.” 

III. The character or kind of the sowing—what is it? 
All the sowing must be one of two kinds. There is endless 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN, 242 


variety of seed. If you were to take a seedsman’s cata- 
logue, you would find an almost endless list of seeds and 
roots. And so there is no limit to the number and variety 
of actions which we do. But they may all be divided into 
two classes. The one is “sowing éo the flesh; ” the other 
is “sowing Zo the Spirit.” Instead of calling them good or 
éad—instead of calling us good or bad sowers, God’s Word 
divides us thus: “he that soweth Zo hzs flesh,” and “ he that 
soweth ¢o the Spirit.” 

“Sowing to the flesh” is just doing what is pleasing to 
ourselves, following our own likings, gratifying our own in- 
clinations, walking in the way of our own heart. “ Sowing 
to the Spirit” is doing, or seeking to do, what is pleasing 
to God, having regard to His will, His law, His glory. Let 
us take anything we have done during the past year, any- 
thing we are about to do now, and ask ourselves, Is Z/zs 
sowing “to the flesh” or “to the Spirit?” 

That question may be asked concerning everything we 
do, and may be answered. As we are always sowing one 
way or another, so it is always either Zo the jlesh or to the 
Spirit. Which ts 7+? Everything you ever did was the 
one or the other. You will find the works of the flesh and 
the fruits of the Spirit mentioned in Gal. v. 19-23. Where 
there is still the old heart, where there is no true love to 
God, where Jesus is still kept out of the heart, all we do 
is a “sowing to the flesh,” When the heart has been 
surrendered to Him, the “sowing to the Spirit” begins. 


What is your sowing to be? 
J. Ww. 


LXXX. Children of Light. Epu v. 8 “ Walk as 
children of light.” 


THE word “walk” here is not used in the ordinary sense 
of taking a walk. The word used to mean in old English 
a man’s manner or habit of life. And so St. Paul says to 
all the children of Christ, “ Let your life be worthy of the 
One whose name you bear. Walk as children of light.” 
Now what is meant by “children of light”? It means 
children who have the same nature as the children of God. 
Children of darkness are those who are dark and bad in 


244 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


their hearts ; children of the light are those who have the 
very nature of light. 

Now there are three things in the making of light, three 
things which ought to be what we call the characteristics 
of the children of light. The light dispels darkness, and 
always brings joy and hope and opportunity of work, 
and always shines for the sake of others. Now there are, 
children, three things in which you are to show your- 
selves as children of light. All living ching s love light. 
You know how the birds rejoice and sing when the light 
appears; and some love the light so that you will see 
them waiting on the side of the mountain where the sun 
rises and in the evening they will gather on the side of the 
mountain where the sun sets, and men have seen these 
birds pass from one bough to another in the tree as the sun 
sinks down, so as to retain the light of the sun as long as 
possible. And so all living things love light; but the light 
we are to love and walk in as children of it, is not the sun 
that can set, but the Sun of Righteousness that can never go 
down on any distant horizon. The light you are to walk 
in is, remember, children, pureness, unselfishness, truth, 
love, the light that comes from the very heart of God 
Himself. 

This light dispels darkness. You cannot have darkness 
and light together. You know that in the world. You 
know that, when you open the shutter of the dark room, 
and the light streams in, the darkness must go. It is just 
so with the light we have from God. My dear friends, 
these two things cannot be together,—selfishness and _un- 
selfishness, right and wrong, truth and falsehood, purit 
and impurity ;~these things cannot be together. ’ Whete 
the light of the one comes, then the darkness of the other 
must disappear. You must give up all darkness when 
once the light of God’s love and mercy streams into your 
life and dispels darkness. 

Have you ever watched in the sick room and heard the 
sick lips say, “Is it nearly light? How long will it be 
before morning ?” If so, you would know the value of the 
light. It brings with it joy to those who can work, and op- 
portunity for labour. When the sun begins to rise, man 
goeth forth to his work, and the city streets, which had 
been so silent, get alive, and the country becomes alive 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 245 


with the song of living birds. And so it will be when this 

very light of God shines into your heart. It will bring you 

the joy of knowing that you are walking in the light of 

God’s countenance. And then remember the uses of the, 
( light. First, the light must dispel the darkness; the light | 
| must bring jo y and activity ; and the third point is, , that the | 

light ERO for its own sake. Do you think that the 
candle burns for its own sake? It is alight to give light, 
not to keep light. And the sun. Do you think the sun 
shines for its own sake? Was not the sun given to give 
light on the earth? And so it will be with this light. 
When this gets into your heart you will reflect light, like 
the stars and the moon reflect the light from the sun. We 
shall reflect in our lives, for the sake of others, the light of 
God’s righteousness ; and when you have this light in your 
hearts then let it shine from your hearts in deeds of tender- 
ness and mercy and love, to make glad and joyous the 
lives of others. And so St. Paul said to his children, and 
we say, “ Walk as children of light.” 

We are told of a figure of a king with a harp in his hand. 
He loved the harp so dearly, for every morning when the 
sun shone upon it its strings gave forth wondrous music. 
Your hearts are like that, and as the Sun of Righteousness 
shines upon them they ought to make music for God’s sake. 
The day shall come when all the hearts of men will be as 
harps. The knowledge of the love of God shall cover the 
earth even as the waters cover the sea, and there shall 
spring from every human heart a song of gratitude for 
Christ’s sacrifice, and endless joy and abundant praise. 

O children, you are not children of darkness but children 
of the light. You have been purchased with an awful price, 
the blood of Christ. Let the light drive away darkness 
from your souls. Let it bring joy and work with it in your 
lives, and let the light shine upon others so that men may 
see it in your works, and so that they may glorify your 
Father who is in Heaven. Amen. Pet Wa tse 


LXXXI. Obedient Children. Epu.viir. “ Children, 
obey your parents in the Lord, for this ts right.” 


I WAS ministering one day at a sick-bed. The sick person 
was an old man, weary and worn out with the toil of a 


246 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


long life. I read to him the story of Enoch walking with 
God, and Cowper’s hymn, “Oh, for a closer walk with 
God!” When I had finished, the old man said in tones 
of Christian penitence, “ Minister, I wish my life had been 
like that hymn.” I thought the old man’s words were a 
beautiful description of obedience. An obedient child 
may be called a child whose whole life is like a hymn of 
praise to the glory of God. 

I. Obedient children are the children who obey the voice of 
the Lord.—To obey means to hear, to listen, to attend to. 
But there must be something to hear, something to listen 
to, something to attend to. What is that something? It 
is the voice of the Lord through which He makes known 
to us His will. I knew a mother who was giving her boy 
an advice as he was leaving her home in the country to 
begin life in a great city. She gave him words of warning, 
words of instruction, words of loving cheer ; but she sum- 
med up her parting words with this wise counsel—* And 
remember, John, always to serve the Lord, and you will 
best serve yourself, and your master, and your father, and 
me.” This is the great rule of the life of Christ’s obedient 
children. They speak the truth, for that is the will of God. 
They are honest, for that isthe will of God. They are kind 
to one another, for that is the will of God. They honour 
their father and mother, for that is the will of God. They 
are diligent in any work they are called to do, for that is 
the will of God. What is not the will of God they dare 
not do. When they are doing the will of God they are 
doing all that man can require of them. 

II. Obedient children are the children who obey the Lord 
because they love Him.—A gentleman once met a little girl 
carrying a big baby boy on her back on a hot summer day 
along a dusty country road. Her face was glowing with 
heat, and streamlets of perspiration were running down it, ~ 
and her hair was flowing in the summer wind. The gentle- 
man was struck with the romping fresh child, but thought 
she was overburdened. He stopped her and asked if the 
baby was not too heavy. She looked up through a mist 
of golden hair and a wave of smiles and said: “Oh, he is 
not the least heavy, he is ma brither.” Love was the spring 
that made her burden light, her duty well done ; and love 
is the secret of the obedience of all Christ’s children. The 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 247 


obedience that is born of fear is hard, heartless duty, not 
good for ourselves and not glorifying to God. The obe- 
dience that springs from love is free, happy service, the 
service of children, not the service of slaves. God wants 
all that we do for Him to proceed out of the love of the 
heart that He has made clean and glad by His grace. 
What we do for Him depends greatly on how we do it. 
He thinks more of a mite that unselfish love gives than of 
a million that is given from selfish fear. 

III. Obedient children are the children who obey the 
Lord in all things.—Children are sometimes tempted to 
think of God only on Sundays or at times when engaged 
in religious services—that He is to be obeyed in worship. 
But He is to be obeyed in work, and in all the work that 
His children are called to undertake. There is a story told 
of a very small congregation in America. It consisted of 
only twelve persons, but they all agreed to do something 
in the service of God. They had a meeting to arrange 
plans and appoint ‘‘to every one his work.” They began 
at the oldest and came down the list of members to the 
youngest. Some agreed to teach the young, some to visit 
the poor, some to conduct “little prayer meetings,” some 
to circulate tracts. This was all good, useful work. The 
youngest member was a servant girl. She was asked 
what she would undertake. She was very shy and felt 
herself very helpless, but she modestly answered, “I will 
try and serve God in the trifles of my common life.” It 
is said that the old minister, on hearing this, replied, 
“Brethren, the youngest member will beat us all.” That 
“youngest member” certainly teaches usalla lesson. To 
serve God in the “trifles of our common life” is the duty 
and the privilege of God’s obedient children. We are 
called upon to be living epistles of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and on every side of our life there must be written in 
Christian deeds the gospel we have believed. 

IV. Obedient children are the children who find in 
obedience its own reward.—lIt is not wise always to be 


asking, “What wages am I to get for serving God?” I 


remember sitting beside an aged minister who had lived a 
long useful life. He spoke of the many things that God had 
done for him, of his own deep peace and the joy of a happy 
trust ; and he spoke of heaven, He was going there with 


248 SERMINS TO CHILDREN. 


clear bright hope. But he said a thing about heaven that 
made my young heart wonder. “I do not think of heaven 
as a place where God will reward me for what I have done 
for Him, but as a place where I will praise Him for what 
He has done for me.” Surely this is the right view of 
looking at the rewards of obedience. Everything we do 
for God should be regarded as an oblation of praise for 
what He has done for us. At the end of the page we come 
back to the truth with which it opened—an obedient child | 
is a child whose whole life is like a beautiful hymn om 


praise to the glory of God ; and the reward of obedience 
is in being made by grace and truth like a Christian =i 
We are called upon to keep the commandments of the 

Lord,—His grace in Jesus is given for this great end, and 
the Scriptures tell us that “in keeping of them there i is 


G. W. q f 


great reward,” 


LXXXII. The Children’s Book: Epuvi.17. “ 
word of God.” 


EVERY New Year's Day is like a milestone on our journey 
towards eternity. On one side of the milestone we ca 
read the number of the miles we have already passed. 
But can we read on the other side how many miles are_ 
still before us? No, we do not know whether many years 
or only a few days will bring us to the end of our earthl 
pilgrimage. But if we love God, we may read this inscrip- 
tion on the other side: “ Surely goodness and mercy shall 
follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in they 
house of the Lord for ever.’ 

On looking over the past, resting at a new milestone, r 
have beside me one good and faithful companion, who has” 
been with me since my early childhood. He has been a 
wise counsellor, an unerring guide, a patient and wonder- 
ful teacher of things earthly and heavenly, a loving com- x 
forter,—in short, everything that you could desire in a ~ 
friend. His voice was sometimes very solemn and grave, 
but so earnest and affectionate that I could not forget his. 
words ; and, because they were truth and love, I had to 
return to him and acknowledge my sin and folly, and ask 


| SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 249 


| him to continue to guide me, though it was by rebuke. 

| This friend understood all my thoughts, and, what is more 

wonderful, he understands that hidden and mysterious 
thing the heart, out of which the thoughts come. He led 

_ me to the fountain of life, of peace, and of love ; he showed 
me how God forgives sin and renews the sinner’s heart; 
he spoke to me of God’s wonderful works and acts in the 

past, and of His great purposes in the future. And in all 
this he always spoke of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the 
Saviour and Shepherd, who died for the flock, and lives 
now to bless them. 

Now, when I was achild, he spoke to me as a child. 
He told me beautiful, wonderful, and touching stories, 
which I can never forget. I fancy even now that I hear 
his voice as I heard it then, when he told me of the crea- 
tion of heaven and earth; of man, made in the image of 
God ; of the garden of Eden; of righteous Abel, the first 
shepherd and martyr ; of Noah, how he feared and trusted 
God, and built the ark. I think I still see the rainbow as 
I saw it in my mind when he first told me that God set it 
in the clouds, to assure us of his mercy ; and that I still 
see the stars, as he told me God showed them to Abra- 
ham, and promised him to be the father of many nations. 
And so many other stories—of Joseph, of Moses, of David, 
of Daniel ; and in all these stories the first and chief and 
last was always God. 

And as I grew older, this friend appeared to me to grow 
greater, wiser, more wonderful ; and I am still a little child 
before him, and he teaches, corrects, and guides me. 

Now you know that this friend is the Bible. I like 
to look at the books which I read as a child. But the 
Bible is the only book that grows with us ; and, when we 
come to die, we still feel as little children and disciples 
and learners. The Bible is indeed, as the word itself tells 
us, the Book. There is none like it. It is given to us of 
God, to lead us to God. It is written by the inspiration 
of the Holy Ghost, the good, loving, and infinite Spirit. 
It reveals to us Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour 
of sinners, the heir of all things. It tells us how to glorify 
God, and to enjoy Him for ever. It tells us the wonderful 
history of creation and of the fall. It tells us the wonder- 
ful history of God’s ancient people. It tells us the most 


250 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


wonderful history of all times,—the life, death, resurrection ~ 
and ascension of Jesus Christ. It tells us what will be 
the end of all things, when Jesus will return, and God will t 
make new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth \ 
righteousness. This book is given to us of God, because 
He loves us, and it is to make us wise unto salvation, ya 
faith, which is in Christ Jesus. 

I. God intends and wishes children to read His word. 
God never forgets the little ones. When He brought the 4 
Jews out of Egypt, He especially remembered the little — 
ones. When He instituted the festivals, He remembered ~ 
the children, and foresaw that they would ask questions © 
as to the meaning of the ceremonies, and commanded the ~ 
parents to instruct them. When He gave the five books ~ 
of Moses, He commanded the fathers to read them to and © 
with the children, and to speak to them about His great — 
and merciful works. God wishes children to know, love © 
and serve Him. Think of Samuel, and how God spoke to © 
him. Think of Josiah. “ Josiah was eight years old when 
he began to reign, and he did that which was right in the — 
sight of the Lord.” Fancy a little boy, only eight years 
old, being raised to the throne. He was one of the greatest 
reformers that ever lived, and from his tender childhood 
he loved God. Think of Timothy, who knew the Scrip- 
tures from a child ; and when his great teacher and friend, 
the Apostle Paul, was about to leave him, he wrote to him 
not to be afraid of false teachers and perilous times, but to 
cleave to the word of God, which he had known from the 
days of his childhood. 

II. God has therefore caused the Bible to be written 
inasimple and attractive way. There are no stories so 
beautiful, so wonderful, so interesting, as the Bible stories. 
There is no book in which we find such grand and touch- 
ing poetry, such terse and deep sayings. Here is some- 
thing for every one—the soldier, who likes to read of 
battles ; the sailor, who likes to read of storms and ship- 
wrecks ; the lover of nature, who likes descriptions of 
scenery and of the glories of creation; the philosopher, 
who likes to study the anatomy of the human heart; the 
sorrowful, the weak, the sick, the aged, the dying, all find 
here food for their minds, and comfort for their souls. 

God repeats in the Bible what is important, that we may 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 253 


anderstand it clearly, that we may not forget it. He very 
often repeats and sums up what He has said before. So 
the ten commandments are summed up into two; and 
many short and simple verses contain a great many pages 
of the Bible condensed. John iii. 16 Luther calls “the 
Bible in miniature.” Then the types and parables are like 
pictures and models—striking, attractive, compact, easily 
remembered, and yet very deep. 

III. The Bible is a deep book, and we never can ex- 
haust it. But if we know Fesus as our Saviour, we know 
the sum and substance of the Bible. I was one day in 
Carlsruhe, the capital of Baden. The duke has a palace 
there, and all the streets in the city lead to this palace. 
The city is built like a fan: wherever you are, if you go 
on a little you come to the palace. It is thus in the 
Bible: all prophets and apostles testify of Jesus, that He 
is the only Saviour and Lord. 

IV. Lastly, the Bible is the children’s book. Only 
children can understand and profit by it. Except we be- 
come like little children, we cannot enter into the kingdom 
of God. When we are humble, when we feel that we are 
very ignorant, that our hearts are very sinful, that we are 
very unworthy, that we are very weak, then God the Holy 
Ghost teaches us out of His own book, and makes us very 
happy in Jesus. 

A.S. 


LXXXIII. Lights. Pum ii. 15, 16. “Shine as lights in 
the world ; holding forth the word of life.” 


MANY of you will remember what is written in “ Pilgrim’s 
Progress” about the shining ones ; how, when Christian 
-and Hopeful drew near to the great deep river of Death, 
they met two men, whose raiment shone like gold, and 
whose faces shone as thé light; and how the same two 
shining ones waited for the pilgrims when they came out 
of the river, to lead them into the city. You may have 
thought when reading this that it was only a picture of 
angels, and had nothing to do with you. It has a great 
deal to do with every one, whether old or young, who 
confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord. Does not the text 


252 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


say that you are all to be shining ones? Well, let us try © 
to gather some portion of the truth which St. Paul would © 
teach us, by answering three questions, beginning with 
three short words which you can all keep in your minds— 
Where? What? How? 

I. Where are the lights to shine? “In the world,” is the 
reply. Our blessed Saviour, when He was about to leave 
the world, would not pray that His beloved disciples 
might be taken away with Him out of it; all He asked 
was that they might be kept from everything which would 
dim the brightness of His glory inthem. He sent them 
into the world that they might shine. Now, think—What 
kind of place is it into which you send or in which you 
set a light? Is it not a place either dark or dangerous? 
This world, in which it is Christ's will that we should live 
and move, is full of darkness and full of danger ; therefore 
you and I are to shine. 

The world is a dark place. Very lately you got all sorts 
of presents, and cards, and kind greetings, the expression 
in which was, “A merry Christmas!” Why do you 
associate Christmas with great joy? Is it not because, in 
the words of Isaiah, “the people that walked in darkness 
have seen a great light”? My dear young readers, the 
best mirth that you can put into this weary world of ours 
is of the same kind—a shining in darkness. Yes, darkness! 
When you pass through the streets in the day-time, you 
see here and there iron posts supporting lamps. Zhen you 
don’t feel the good of these lamps. But by-and-by, as 
night approaches, you are grateful to the lamplighter ; you 
understand the use of the lamps he has lighted. That is 
the very use we are to be in this world. It lies in darkness 
because it lies in wickedness. You may have seen what is 
called a missionary map, with a great many black spaces 
in it—these black spaces marking out the countries and 
islands which the light of the gospel has not yet reached. 
How thick the darkness sometimes is! When Narayan 
Sheshadri was in this country, I heard him say—“I was 
brought up to believe that I myself was a god on earth; 
that all men, women, and children ought to worship me.” 
This, because he belonged to a particular caste! And you 
know what frightful superstitions and horrid cruelties pre- 
vail in Africa and China—in a great, far too great, part of 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 253 


the world—among the hundreds of millions of heathens. 
Is that all the darkness? Alas! there are spaces as black 
as those on the map in Christian countries,—ay, close to 
your own happy homes. Wherever Christ is not known, 
loved, obeyed, there is the shadow of death. And every 
one whom I address should be like the lights which God 
created to divide the day from the night; shining as a light 
whose very presence marks out separation from sin—“a 
light in the world.” 

If I add, the world is full of danger, as well as darkness, 
you will see an additional need for the light. Some of you 
may have sailed in the lovely Firth of Clyde, or out of the 
harbour of Leith, going north or south. Don’t you recollect 
noticing, here and there along the coast-line, revolving 
lights? These lights are all marked in the captain’s chart. 
_ He knows, as he looks at one—“ There is a bad reef there ; 
I must keep clear of it.” And so, as to every one, it isa 
warning or a guide. I cannot resist telling a story about a 
lighthouse keeper: it is so often told that you may have 
heard it, but I must risk the repetition. One day the light 
would not revolve. What did the keeper do? He ran to 
the right position, and with his hand kept revolving the 
light until he was utterly wearied ; then he called another 
man: and thus, all night long, the light was kept in 
motion. Afterwards a friend spoke to him about his 
anxiety. “Why, sir,’ he answered, “there might be a 
hundred seamen looking out from the storm to catcha 
gleam of this light. If it don’t move, it may be mistaken 
for another; and in their uncertainty they may lose the 
channel and be wrecked.” My young friends, there are 
dangers very many; rocks and quicksands, some so sunken 
that they are not discovered until the soul’s peace and 
health are destroyed on them. And each of you should 
feel as that lighthouse keeper felt—‘‘ There may be some 
looking out from the darkness, and if they don’t see a true 
light in me, or if by what I say and do they are turned away 
from God and lose the right channel, they may be wrecked, 
and the fault will be mine.” Be sure of it, each boy or girl 
is, to some other boy or girl, a light. You have two hands: 
use the one to keep back from the danger, from what is 
bad and ugly; use the other to point and help to what 
is good and right. Some years ago a young man went up 


254 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


ot 


from Aberdeen to London. He was taken into the employ- 
ment of an eminent publisher. One afternoon Mr. Irving 
came into the shop. He noticed the youth ; and on being 
told that he came from Scotland, went kindly to him, and 
said: “Young man, you have come to a very wicked 
place,’—that was the hand holding back ; “ but,” he added 
solemnly, “the grace of God is in it,’—that was the hand 
bidding onward. The young fellow never forgot the words ; 
amidst the dangers of the great capital, the memory of 
that saying was as a light to him. God help you and me 
to be such lights in this world, so full of darkness and so 
full of danger. 

II. But it is time to think, not merely of where the light 
is to shine, but also of what the light is. And I will tell 
you something about the phrase “lights,” as it is used 
by the Apostle, which at once explains this. The phrase 
means /uminarzes ; it is the same phrase as in Genesis i. 
14, “ Let there be “gh¢s in the firmament of heaven:” so 
that you see the Christian is to be like one of those stars 
that “come twinkling one by one from out the azure sky.” 
A hymn, with which no doubt you are familiar, thus gives 
the thought :— 


“Make me thy child—a child of God, 
Washed in my Saviour’s precious blood : 
And my whole heart, from sin set free, 
A little vessel full of thee. 


“ A star of early dawn, and bright, 
Shining within thy sacred light ; 
A beam of grace to all around ; 
A little spot of hallowed ground.” 


There are two things which I would like you to remember 
about these luminaries. 

They are reflecting lights. I referred you to the first 
chapter of Genesis, which speaks of the creation of all 
things, Well, if you read that chapter, you will find that 
on the first day God created light, and on the fourth day 
He made lights. People used to cry, “ How strange! 
How could there be light without light bodies?” Science 
has confirmed the word of the Bible. And the account in 
Genesis is true of another creation,—“If any man be in 
Christ, he is a new creature.” Christ is the Light. Whosc 


a 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 255 


is in Christ is a light only because he received the Light. 
Until Christ comes into and dwells in the heart, the heart 
is dark. When you go out at night and look up to the 
moon and stars, you exclaim, How glorious! Yes; but 
the glory is not in the moon—it is a dark body, with no 
light except what.it gets from the sun. Jesus Christ is to 
us what the sun is to the moon. It is He who is and who 
gives light, and all our shining can be only the sending 
beyond us of the beam which has come from Himself. It 
is when our heart really opens to Jesus; when “the old, 
old story of Jesus and His love” ceases to be a mere story 
and becomes a living truth in us; when we are turned 
right toward the Saviour, feeling ourselves poor lost 
sinners, but knowing and seeing in Him a perfect Saviour 
and a perfect salvation, and we give ourselves as we are 
to Him as He is, it is zien that the light is received, and 
all things become new in their interest, and claim, and 
blessing, as, having received, we walk thenceforth reflecting 
the light of the Lord. Blessed then—may it be fulfilled 
in you! 

Now, this further as to the thenceforth. The lights are a 
growing, increasing kind of light. They shine “ more and 
more unto the perfect day.” Long centuries ago there was 
a glorious temple in Jerusalem, and in that temple there 
was a fire, as to which the charge given to the priests was, 
“You are to keep it always burning ; it is never to go out.” 
Now, the light which Christ gives is to be always burning 
and shining, Sunday and Monday, at home and from home, 
in health and in sickness, at play and in church, all times 
and all ways giving forth something of Jesus’ spirit, and be- 
coming more and more brilliant the longer it shines. There- 
fore, if we would be lights in the world, we must be getting 
always new and fresh supplies of light from Jesus. And we 
shall get if we obey Him with our whole heart, and trust 
Him fully, and pray to Him, and read His Holy Word. He 
will give us then His Holy Spirit to dwell in us,—to be, as 
it were, a new anointing, a new light of life every morning, 
making us better and truer and wiser the longer we live. 

III. One point remains,—How the light is to shine. 
We often speak of persons shining. Such and such a boy, 
we say, shone at school; or such and such a one shines in 
society. That is not the way of the shining to which we 


356 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


are called. That kind of shining is often false and ruinous, 
One evening I saw the harbour light kindled at St. 
Andrews. “What a mercy that light is!” I thought 
“Ah!” said the gentleman with whom I was walking, 
“sometimes it betrays. The seaman mistakes it for the 
light at the mouth of the Tay, makes for it, and finds out, 
at a terrible cost, his mistake.” All shining which springs 
from mere ambition, or love of gaiety, or love of the world, — 
or selfishness, betrays. And there are many such betrayers, 
many such antichrists in the world. May you be delivered © 
from them ! ; 
In the first clause of the sixteenth verse, you find the - 
manner of the Christian shining. “Holding forth the word 
of life.’ We are so to let this candle shine out, so to hold ~ 
forth what we are taught in the blessed word of God, in™ 
our lives, in our talk and walk, in our conduct towards 
those whom we may meet, in what we are and do, that they - 
may see a light of heaven in us, and glorify our Pa 
which is in heaven. 
This is how you are to shine. And, remember, you ave 
to shine. What is God’s mind about the stars? He lights 
them for us and for His world. What doyoudo? And 
we have light in Christ not that we may live nursing a_ 
solitary goodness, but that we may let light go out from — 
us. Would that we were all taught of God to hold forth — 
the Word of Life to the perishing around us. 
J.ML 


LXXXIV. Giants. 1 Tim. vira. “Fight the good fight 
of faith.” ? 


“T WISH that I had a ‘sword of sharpness’ and ‘shoes of © 
swiftness, and could go about killing off big ugly giants © 
like that Jack in my book. I like my giant-killer book 
better than the stories of good boys that get ill and die. 
I would like to live and do something. The giants were 
horrid, putting men and women in their dungeons, and 
devouring up children. Blunderbore and Cormoran were 
the worst. It isa good thing that they were stupid and 
greedy, and ate too much, and went to sleep often. Jack — 
was splendid; so clever and never afraid, and everybody — 


said, 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 257 


‘This is the valiant Cornishman, 
That slew the giant Cormoran.’ 
But that was long ago, and there are no giants nowadays.” 

Are there not, my boy? Indeed there are ; all, I suspect, 
that ever there were. There are a great many horrid, cruel 
giants that do sore mischief to men, women, and children, 
and you will not require to travel to Wales or to Cornwall 
to find them. They are everywhere about. You may find 
and fight them, if you choose. In fact I may tell you that 
you will be obliged to fight them. You cannot get out of 
it. If you do not conquer them, they will be sure to con- 
quer you. One way or other it is certain to be. Either 
you must get the upper hand or ¢/ey will. There are some 
that are especially cruel to children. 

I. One is called BADTEMPER. When he gets hold of 
any boy he puts him under enchantment. He alters his face 
so that he would not know himself in the glass; knits his 
brows, makes his eyes glare, changes his voice into a bear’s 
gruff growl or a wolf’s howl, makes him feel like to strike 
every one and break everything round about, turns all the 
wholesome blood in his body into vinegar and gall, puts 
toad’s venom on his lips, and tortures him until he feels 
himself the most miserable little wretch existing. 

That is a very bad giant indeed, and a very hard one to 
get the better of. He comes to life again and again, when 
you think he is finished. But you must by all means be 
sure to conquer him if you hope to have any happiness in 
this world. 

II. Another is a wicked, two-faced giant, called FALSE- 
HOOD. The boy who, unfortunately, falls into his power, 
loses immediately the proper use of his tongue. ‘Two little 
words in particular he grows unable to say. They are 
quite short words, one has only two letters and the other 
three; one is “yes,” and the other “no.” But the poor 
fellow is no longer able to say these at the proper time, and 
in the right place. He says “yes” when it should be 
“no,” and “no” when it should be “yes.” His tongue 
stammers and hesitates, and tells things all wrong, and up- 
side down, and not as they really are. His description is 
blurred and twisted, like a bad photograph. No onecan 
trust his story. His cheeks grow red and hot and uncom- 
fortable, and he is in such a flutter of fear that he zs afraid 

s 


258 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


even of his own father and mother. 1 am very sorry for © 
the boy who gets into the clutches of this giant. It is a ~ 
kind of madness,.and he may not get out of it all his life. 

III. Then there is DISOBEDIENCE. But by this time I 
daresay you have found me out, and know what I mean. 
The giants you have to fight with are all kinds of sins and 
evils. So, without making a giant of it, disobedience is 
another of the things you must strive against. Remember © 
that everybody has to obey, and is happiest when obeying. — 
Your father has to obey; the Queen even. Perhaps you ~ 
imagine that when you are older you will then do as you j 
like. Not at all, nobody can do that. The soldier obeys his q 
officer, the sailor his captain. In all the offices and shops © 
somebody gives the orders, and the rest obey. On the rail- © 
way everybody, all the guards and porters, look to the time- 
. table and obey it. If all of them did as they pleased, sent © 
the trains and stopped them anywhere and at any time, © 
such collisions and accidents would be! Therefore, do © 
not be stiffnecked and rebellious. Obey your parents, and © 
when older obey your conscience and your God; otherwise — 
there will be confusion and terrible accidents. 

IV. Then there is SELFISHNESS. Strive against it, think 
of others, be kind and helpful. It does not matter how 
young and little you are. You can always do something 
in that way. A mouse, you know, once did a good turn to 
a lion. You can watch baby, or run an errand upstairs to 
spare old, tired limbs. Opposite the house where I once 
lived stood the cottage of a poor widow, with a few flowers 
outside, that were all her delight. The woman took ill, and 
lay long in bed, Many people showed her kindness. From 
my window I could see the doctor go in at the door, and 
kind ladies who brought comforts both for body and mind. 
But there was one who showed her a very real, unobtrusive 
piece of kindness. It was a little neighbour girl. She did 
not call to inquire, nor go in at the door, nor make herself 
seen in any way. But she came bringing her watering-pot 
and watered the poor woman’s flowers, that would certainly 
have died in the hot summer sun. This she continued to 
do every day, till their owner was better again. The very 
first day the widow was able, she came tottering out to see 
her pets, and there they were, all alive and well. I wonder 
if she ever knew who kept them alive! I do not know. 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 259 


But I saw the little girl do this, and remembered it, 
And I know God saw it and remembered it, and has 
written it in His great Book. Every kind thing you do is 
certainly written there. 

I could tell you of some more—giants shall we call them 


again? But these are the worst that you will probably 


meet, and if you get the better of these, you are not likely 
to have much trouble with any others. Old people encoun- 
ter a few others. For instance, I saw a man the other day 
knocked about and abused by Giant INTEMPERANCE in a 
way to make you shudder. He tossed him from one side 
of the way to the other, bemired him, tore him, disfigured 
him, and at last threw him before the wheels of a car and 
ended him. I know a giant called MAMMON who keeps a 
great many poor slaves, chained neck and heel, grubbing 
all their life Jong in his dirty mines, till, with the constant 
glitter of gold and silver, the unhappy creatures lose the 
power of their eyesight for anything else in this world. 
But there is no need to say anything of such in the mean- 
time, and when you have slain those I have mentioned, 
you will have grown so skilful in the business that you will 
polish them off quite easily when you come to meet 
them. 

I hope that all your life you will be a brave fighter 
against every kind of wrong and evil, both for your own 
sake and for everybody’s, and will help to make the world, 
and this part of it we live in, a safer and better and happier 
place for us all. There is a great deal to do. Oh, the 
groans and miseries of men, women and children! Some 
houses are only gzanuts’ dungeons, where the inmates lie in 
darkness and squalor and horrid cruelty. Help to get 
everybody out, if you can, into the sunshine. Some are 
doing the best they can. I hope you will do better than 
any, and perhaps some day people may say of you, 


This is the valiant British man, 
That strives for goodness all he can.” 


T. P. J. 


260 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


eee 


LXXXV. The Word of God. 2 Tm. iii. 16. “Ad 
Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and ts profitable fer 
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction tn righteous- — 
ness.” 


OUR subject is the Word of God, and we shall consider 
some of its titles. 

I. God’s Word is “a hammer.” 

See that block of whinstone, and now see that little 
instrument lying on it—a hammer. Yonder skilful work- 
man can with it break that block into pieces, which can 
then be applied to any purpose that he may think them 
fit for. 

When our first parents were created their hearts were 
soft, and therefore easily impressed by Divine things, and 
their affections were pure and warm, but when sin entered 
and took possession, the heart became as hard as the 
hardest stone and the affections became like ice. And so 
they naturally continue to be. When, however, the Word 
of God is duly applied to the hardest heart, it breaks it 
into shivers, after which it is formed anew like Christ. 
This is “not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit 
saith the Lord.” 

II. “The Sword of the Spirit.” 

Each one, young and old, who has come to the Lord’s 
side has been enlisted to be a soldier of the cross. A 
soldier must have on his armour when placed before the 
enemy ; so, to be of use, we must have on our armour con- 
stantly, for the enemies—the devil, sinful thoughts and 
desires—are always in our way. We have five pieces of 
armour—the helmet, the coat of mail, girdle or belt, 
sandals, and, over all, “the shield of faith.” These are 
all for defence. We have only one for attack—the Sword 
of the Spirit, the Word of God. 

See Jesus, thrice tempted in the wilderness by Satan, 
and each time smiting him with His sword, and thereby 
completely vanquishing and silencing the great enemy of 
souls. . The three strokes of the sword were taken by Jesus 
from that wonderful book Deuteronomy. 

The Bible is a “¢two-edged sword.’ The edges are the 
Law and the Gospel. The Law wounds but cannot heal. 


: 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 261 


The Gospel, be it in the Old Testament or the New, 
wounds, and, when applied by the grace of God, can heal. 

III. The Word of God “a Lamp.” 

How we are cheered by light when it causes the dark- 
ness to pass away and shows us all around. Buta lamp, 
though made of the finest gold, filled with the purest oil, 
and having the best of wicks, would be of no use to us 
in our hand in a dark place unless a flame were applied 
to it. The Bible is the darkest and most mysterious book 
in the world if it is not lighted for us by the Holy Spirit, 
but when thus illuminated it is infinitely the brightest 
book, and shows us clearly the way through this dark 
world of sin and sorrow to our Father’s habitation in glory, 
where there shall be no darkness, but where the Lord shall 
be our everlasting light. 

IV. The Bible “a Looking-glass or Mirror.” 

When first we look into the Word of God we see our 
own character, and read that we are poor and miserable, 
and wretched and blind, and naked of holiness, and stand 
in need of all things. We also see, as if in the background 
of the past, men and women whose lives are recorded 
therein. We admire much in them, but they are not per- 
fect. There is One, however, completely holy and loving, 
and altogether loveable. This is the Son of God, who 
casts a lustre over all. 

We see His marvellous goodness to us in the marks of 
the nails and spear in His hands, His feet, and His side, 
and we are filled with gratitude and love to Him, and 
desire earnestly to be like Him; and so we commune with 
Him in His Word, this mirror, and grow liker and liker 
unto Him, even though only seeing Him as through a 
glass, dimly, until we become perfected in Him, and then 
see Him in glory as He is. 

The hammer and sword, to be effectual, must be applied 
by the infinitely wise and Almighty Spirit, and He alone 
can light up the lamp and the mirror. 

Jesus, the Friend of little children, tells us our heavenly 
Father “will give the Holy Spirit to them (whosoever 
they are) that ask Him.” 

There are millions on millions of little children, whose 
souls are as valuable as ours, groping their way through 
this dark world towards eternity, who have never seen 


262 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 

a ee 
even the outside of a Bible. What a cheerless desert this — 
world would be to us without the “Word.” Let us | 
earnestly seek that it may be soon brought within the ~ 
reach of the whole human family, so that each may have 
it in his power to say, like you and me, 


“ Holy Bible, book Divine ! 
Precious treasure ! thou art mine.” ~ 


R. F. F. 


LXXXVI. Faithful Children. Titusi.6. “faithful 
children.” 


THE island of Crete, now called Candia, once had a hun- 
dred churches. They all began through the ministry of 
Paul and Titus. No doubt Paul, in his memorable voyage 
to Rome, looked toward ‘‘ The Fair Havens” and “ Lasea” 
(Acts xxvii. 8), with prayer that the people there might be 
saved ; and in after years a great harvest was reaped in 
that island. 

May we not trace the spread of the truth in that island, 
in some large measure, to the “fazthful children” of the 
believers ? Believing households were seed-corn all over 
Crete. And if so in Crete, an island famed for lying and 
gluttony, why may that not be in our own island too? 
Let us think a little on these “ children.” 

1. There were families where the children were “ faithful.” 

Whole families of saved children! How blessed! and © 
how cheering! And that, too, in such an island as Crete. 
And this word “ fazthful” means two things. 1. Full of 
faith. The young souls were led by the Holy Spirit to 
receive Christ, and become believers. Yes, they became 
followers of “faithful Abraham.” They accepted the 
“faithful saying,” that “Christ Jesus came into the world 
to save sinners.” For young people need the same Saviour 
as old sinners do; they must look to the same Brazen Ser- 
pent to be healed ; they must slake their thirst at the same, 
Fountain of living water. 2. Truthful, or full of fidelity. 
That is, they were children who spoke the truth, and were 
true in their actions ; not deceitful, like other Cretian chil- 
dren. They were like the “little maid” who was servant 
to Naaman’s wife—so truthful that her mistress could trust. 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 263 


every word she spoke. Dear young people, whoever knows 
Christ, who is “the Truth,” will certainly seek to be like 
Him. 

Il. We might have expected to find such families. 

We ought to expect to find as many young souls saved 
as old ones; and it is the duty and privilege of young 
people to seek and find Christ in their very childhood. 
Do you not remember the children in the Temple crying, 
“Hosanna”? and how Jesus spoke on that occasion to 
those who wondered at it and thought it folly? Jesus said, 
“Have ye never read, Out of the mouths of babes and 
sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Matt. xxi. 16). 
Dear young people, think upon these words of Jesus, how 
they tell us that we should expect early conversions ; and 
think, at the same time, of the families in the island of 
Crete, where there were so many instances of this early 
conversion. There is a Saviour for you to-day ; will you 
come to-day ? 

And your parents surely should rejoice in this fact about 
the children of Crete. Your teachers, too, even when they 
know that the scholars of their classes are living in streets 
or houses where all around them is drunkenness, and 
dishonesty, and evil. The children of Crete were “lilies 
- among thorns ;” for there were gluttony and lying on every 
side of them. And so, also, let us pray for and expect the 
conversion of the young in heathen lands; for they are 
not situated in circumstances worse than the children of 
Crete. God’s gospel, the good news about the life, death, 
and resurrection of His Son, is the Spirit’s mighty instru- 
ment in changing old and young. 

Children of believing parents, are you “faithful”? You 
of all others are surely privileged, having your parents’ 
prayers, your parents’ example, your parents’ counsels, and 
the Divine offer made to you in baptism, “I will be your 
God ”—your parents’ God, to be a God to their seed after 
them (Gen. xvii. 7). What if the children of heathen 
parents rise up against you in the judgment! 

AA. B 


264 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


— 


LXXXVI. Outofthe Depths. Titus iii 3-7. ‘ For 


we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, 


’ 
} 
' 
¥ 
' 
a 


serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, 


hateful, and hating one another, etc.” 


WE have seen a great continental river after it had flowed | 


for many miles within a comparatively narrow bed, burst- 
ing suddenly into the dimensions of an inland sea. At 
the lower end of that expanse it again became a stream 
confined within its banks; and at another stage became 
another sea. The St. Lawrence, in North America, is the 
grandest example of this in the world. 

The Scriptures, especially in these Epistles of Paul, 
resemble such a river. In some parts its bed is narrow, 
and you can easily see from bank to bank; but in such a 
portion as our text the current breaks at once through 


and spreads into an ocean where we can neither feel a 


bottom nor see a shore. Here, in a few lines, lie all the 
loss of man, and all the salvation of God. This portion 
of Scripture, although a connected whole, is made up of 
three distinct parts. 

The first (verse 3) reveals our low estate. 

The second (verse 4-6) explains how the fallen are 
raised. 


The third (verse 7) points to the high place on which 


the saved stand. 


It is a Pilgrim’s Progress from the city of Destruction — 


to the city of the living God. 
I. The low condition in which the fallen lie. “For we 


ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, — 


serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and 


envy, hateful, and hating one another.” What a sea of — 


wickedness! It cannot rest. “Who are these and whence 
came they?” Listen to one who has been rescued and 
he will tell what the imprisonment was. He who in this 
verse describes the condition of the sinful, is now among 
the saved. It is only after he has been delivered that he 
can or will bear true witness regarding the bondage in 
which he was held. This missionary, Paul, after his 
own deliverance, was ever ready to tell of his unconverted 
state. 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 265 


The characteristic marks of the lost estate constitute a 
connected series. 

(1) “ Foolish,” that is, thoughtless or heedless. 

An infant or an idiot may be on the bank of some 
yawning gulf, and yet be entirely unconscious of danger. 
He laughs, but you shudder. You know his danger; he 
does not know it himself. This represents one feature 
of an unrenewed, unpardoned sinner’s case. Although sin 
lies on him, and wrath before him, he eats, drinks, and is 
merry. 

(2) “ Disobedience,” implying that the warning voice has 
come and has been neglected. This is His commandment, 
“That we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus 
Christ, and love one another.” This commandment every 
prodigal disobeys every day and all the day long, until 
he arise and go to his Father. 

(3) “ Deceived.” 

This speaks of those who have lost their way and are 
wandering. 

It is the distinguishing character of the evil heart of 
unbelief that it departs from the living God. Deceived 
by the corrupt bent of his own heart, the person who does 
not come near to God in the Mediator, is always going 
further off by a law of his being. 

(4) “ Serving divers lusts and pleasures.” 

He is a slave too, although he does not think so. Lust 
or pleasure needs only to say “Go, and he goeth,” “Come, 
and he cometh.” None walk at liberty except those whom 
the Son of God has made free, and guides by His Spirit. 

(5) “Living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one 
another.” 

It is a dreadful picture; and the last lines are the 
darkest. Slaves far from home and serving the stranger, 
might have their distress greatly mitigated by a gentle 
heart within each bosom, and mutual love in common 
sorrow; but these slaves of sin are neither contented in 
their own minds, nor at peace with each other. Such is 
the low condition of the unrenewed and unforgiven. 

II. How God raises up His own from the depths. 

God is our helper. Ah, how guilty, suspicious human 
hearts misinterpret the mind of God! Marks of His 
fatherly tenderness are scattered everywhere in heaven 


266 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


—_——. 


and earth. That was a true estimate of our heavenly 
Father’s character, which was formed and expressed by a 
godly woman in ancient times—“If the Lord had been 
pleased to kill us, He would not have showed us all these 
things” (Judges xiii. 23). Bravely spoken, Hebrew matron; 
thy happy hopeful word rebukes our dark suspiciousness. 
We must look unto Jesus if we would measure the depth 
of God’s philanthropy. His love to men was embodied 
in the “unspeakable gift.” 

The act of saving us from our state of sin is an act 
of pure mercy. It is in no measure of the nature of a 
bargain ; it is wholly a gift. This may seem to somea 
narrow point ; but it isa turning point, and to take the 
wrong side of this narrow point is to miss God’s salvation. 

III. The high place on which the redeemed stand. 
“That being justified by His grace, we should be made 
heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” 

Not possessors yet, but heirs. What is implied in 
“eternal life” we cannot fully understand. Eye hath not 
seen nor ear heard it all. 

It is a great mistake to suppose that godless young 
people enjoy this world well, and that godly young people 
renounce the happiness of this world to make sure of the 
next. In the nature of the case, they can best enjoy 
whatever good is going in the present life, who expect a 
better when this is done. I love my home on earth: but 
if I have no other home in prospect the dread of one day 
losing my all keeps me in terror. 

If I am the heir of an eternal life, I enjoy all the good 
which the present life contains, and when its sorrows come, 
my weary spirit is soothed by the certainty that they will 
soon be over. 

In these verses, then, we are led near the mouth of a 
horrible pit; the veil is drawn aside and we look down 
on that seething sea of wickedness. But as you gaze and 
grieve, a light from heaven, above the brightness of the 
sun, attracts your notice. It is the philanthropy—the 
man-love of God our Saviour. Silently but resistlessly 
the Light of the World draws some, draws many out of the 
deep and lifts them upwards to Himself. Purified in the 
process, they soar away like clouds, and cluster round 
heayen’s gate, waiting for the time when an abundant 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 267 


entrance will be administered to them into the joy of 
their Lord. 

What of those who are still in the pit? To them the 
invitation comes: Come out of her My people. “Now is 
the day of salvation.” 

This portion of Scripture is a religious tract, and it is 


_ one of the narrative series. A sinner saved tells the story 


: 


CCT, 


_ of his own redemption, that the saved may glorify the 


Lord that bought them, and that the unsaved also may 
arise and, on the footprints of that returned prodigal, 
return to his Father and their Father, to his God and 


their God. 
W. A. 


LXXXVIII. Roots of Bitterness. Hep. xii. 15. “Zook 
ing diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God: lest any 
root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be 
defiled.” 


HERE is a whole parable in a single verse. The apostles 
had learned from their Lord to employ pictures in order to 
make their lessons more striking and memorable. Their 
pictures were taken sometimes from the history of human 
life, sometimes from the habits of animals, and sometimes 
from the growth of flowers and trees. The lesson which 
this verse teaches is found growing in the ground. Under 


_ the likeness of a root, this text teaches us something about 


the nature, the source, the effects, and the cure of sin. 
I. The nature of sin. 
(1) It isa root. In many points sin is like a root. The 


_ root is always below ground; it is never seen. So often is 


it with sin. There are times when no evil word can be 


heard from the lips, and no wicked act can be seen in the 


life, and yet the person may be very sinful all the while. 


_ As the stalks grow up at one season of the year, and dis- 


appear at another, while the root which bears them remains 
alive at all seasons under the ground, so the sinful words 
and deeds may break out into great strength at one time, 
and at another time cease, while the root of sinfulness 
grows still strong in the heart, and is ready to bear its fruit 


Ee 


268 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


whenever an opportunity is offered. Again, the root is © 
always growing as long as it is left living. It is in its 
nature not to stand still, but to be alwaysincreasing. Such 

also is sin in the heart ; the longer it remains the stronger _ 
it grows. If the sinful desires that grow in your heart this” 
year be not crushed and killed, it will be more difficult and 
more painful to-kill them next year. | 

In yet another point you may observe a likeness between 
sin and a root; while it is easy to destroy the flower and 
fruit, and even the branches of any hurtful plant, it may 
be next to impossible to tear the root completely from — 
the ground. A farmer is often sorely disappointed after he 
has cut over the weeds, and even tried to pull out the roots, 
to see the old enemy growing up as strong and thick as 
ever on the spot. 

Ah, parents have often found, after wicked actions have 
been checked by chastening, that the evil disposition has 
been left lurking in secret, and has burst into wickedness 
again whenever it found an opening ! | 

(2) The root is bitter. Everything depends on the nature 
and kind of the root that grows in the soil. Good and 
evil trees may grow beside each other in the same field. 
The fruit follows the root ; no matter how rich the ground, 
how abundant the rain, how bright the sunshine, if the 
root be a “root of bitterness,” bitter also will be the fruit. 

Thus sin growing in the heart turns all the powers of our 
nature into evil. The understanding mind and the glowing” 
affections, the nimble feet and the cunning hand—all are 
turned into poison by the corrupt desire that nestles desta . 
in the soul like a root underground. 

Saul of Tarsus possessed learning and eloquence andl 
energy, and a fiery, unfainting heart ; but the bitter root 
was in the man, and it turned all into fruits of wickedness. 
All his varied powers were employed in hunting and_ 
murdering the innocent disciples of Jesus. But when the 
bitter root was turned out of him on the way to Damascus, 
by the flash of Christ’s redeeming love, and the plant of a_ 
renewed nature left living in its stead, all his powers were 
forthwith exerted in serving God and saving men. 

II. The source of sin. 

We do not at present speak of the first tempter and the 
first temptation. Our business is with ourselves and with 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 269 


the awful truth—that the roots of bitterness are not planted 
by other people, but spring up within ourselves. In the 
text we do not read, “Lest any root of bitterness be 
brought in,” but, “ Lest any root of bitterness springing up 
trouble you.” When we see a stream rushing downward 
to the sea, we sometimes ask, “Where is its source?” 
Thus, when a sinful life is flowing like a stream, and any 
one asks whence it comes, Jesus leads up to the sinner’s 
own heart, and bids us see it “springing up” there. “ Out 
of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,” etc. (Matt. 
Xv. 19). 

Every child should first watch his own heart, where sin 
springs up of itself; and next be careful of the company 
he keeps, lest he learn from others wicked words and ways 
in addition to his own. 

III. The effects of sin. 

We do not now trace out all the poisonous fruits which 
the bitter roots of sin bear in time and eternity ; we speak 
only of the two named in the text, “trouble and defile- 
ment.” 

(1) Sin troubles you. It troubles the world, a nation, 
a Church, a family, a single person. Observe, although 
the bitter root springing up often disturbs the peace of a 
country and rends asunder a Church, the root never springs 
from the ground between two persons or two companies ; 
it always springs in the persons themselves. The troubler 
is within us; and if he were not allowed to dwell within 
us, he never could contrive to disturb the peace between us 
and our neighbours, 

The root of bitterness that grows strongest in one child 
is selfishness; in another, anger; in another, falsehood ; in 
another, disobedience to parents. They are alike in that 
all have sharp prickles, and these pierce the flesh of all 
who come within their reach. 

The stings of conscience in time and the wrath of God 
in eternity are the fully ripened fruits which these roots of 
bitterness bear. “Sin when it is finished bringeth forth 
death.” 

(2) Sin defiles others. If a careless farmer permit 
thistles to grow and ripen and run to seed on his own field, 
he injures thereby the field of his neighbour. Many grown 
men, and not a few children, take the name of God in vain 


27 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


and utter profane language. These sounds from foul lips 
fly through the air, like thistle seeds on the wind, and 
falling on the ears of the young deeply defile their hearts. 
Beware! Let no word or act proceed from you that would 
corrupt another. Each of us is our brother's keeper ; and 
if by our sins we defile his soul, God will require his blood 
at our hands. 

IV. The cure of sin. 

It appears from our text that two things go to the cure 
of sin—our. diligence and God’s grace. “ Looking dili- 
gently, lest any man fail of the grace of God.” This does 
not mean that we owe our salvation partly to ourselves and 
partly to God. No; Christ is all our salvation ; He alone 
has finished the work, and it is His free gift to poor sinners. 
But it is also true, that God expects us to watch and pray, 
and strive for the salvation ; our diligent look cannot work 
our salvation; but we are told to look diligently lest we 
should miss this precious salvation, which has been com- 
pleted by Christ, and is offered free to all. — 

The grace of God means His undeserved goodness to 
sinners, His free gift. If Christ dwell in your hearts by 
faith, sin will not be allowed to dwell along with Him ; but 
on the other hand, if He is kept out, all sorts of evil 
thoughts and habits will live and thrive within. 

W. A. 


LXXXIX. Resisting the Devil. Jamesiv. 7. “Resist 
the devil and he will flee from you.” 


ONE day standing by the brink of a stream, we watched a 
little water-rat at play. How frolicsome it was !—now nib- 
bling the grass, now rolling itself over and over like a ball. 
Who would have guessed that there was a blood-thirsty eye 
following it everywhere? But so it was. All of a sudden, 
out leapt a weasel from its ambush. The next moment 
it had its teeth in its throat. We were too late to save it. 
Though the weasel skulked off from us, the poor little 
water-rat had just strength enough to crawl to its hole and 
then it heaved a sigh and died. 

And who that sees a child running about so happy, so 
free, so light of heart, would imagine that there was a mur- 
derous being hovering near it, laying snares for it, bent on its 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 271 


destruction? Yetsoitis. “Youradversary the devil goeth 
about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” 
Never does he appear so hateful as when he endeavours, as 
he always does, to ruin those whom the very brutes refuse 
to harm. A wolf found a child in a forest, and’ nursed it, 
and fought for it ; but Satan plots how he may destroy the 
loveliest and tenderest. 

Do you not feel him at work? 

1. Whispering evil thoughts, as he did to Eve in Para- 
dise, and to our Lord in the wilderness. There they are 
before you know it, and without your leave. 

2. Stirring up naughty desires and passions in you. 
The heart is naturally sinful, and Satan can somehow make 
it show its love of sin, as bubbles rise to the surface of a 
bowl, as snakes creep out of the rocks. 

3. Alluring you by outward pleasures or wicked ex- 
amples. He says, “ Here’s a sweet thing ; you may have it, 
you must have it. Never mind if it is a little bit bad.” 

Thus he tempts you. Each of you is a city besieged by 
him. This being so, what a word of comfort is this from 
God: “ Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” 

I. The charge to resist him—not to attack him—that 
might be to expose yourselves unnecessarily to danger. 
Do not be careless about him—that is madness; but resist 
him. Do not be afraid of him or yield an inch to him, but 
resist him. 

But how? (1) By stopping your ears and shutting your 
eyes. Ear-gate and Eye-gate are the chief entrances to the 
town of Mansoul. The fall came of Eve’s listening and 
looking, and half our falls come of the same. 

Lately we saw a robin on a pathway, fascinated by the 
calls and charms of a robinina cage. Close by was a man 
holding the string. Now that robin’s peril lay in its looking 
and listening. If it would but turn and fly away out of 
sight and sound it would be delivered ; but it listened and 
looked and then it hopped into the cage and was captured. 
Don’t dally or parley with Satan; but resist him by shutting 
your eyes and ears to temptation. 

(2) By silencing your heart. Ifa temptation gets in 
at Ear-gate or Eye-gate, it rouses our hearts, and they 
begin to crave and clamour like a pack of hounds when 
the huntsman holds the fox in the air above their heads 


272 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


“They will devour him,” yousay. No; he fetches out his 
whip and shouts to them, “Down, dogs—be quiet,’ and 
they are as still as stones. So we must silence our hearts 
when they cry out for what is wrong. We must say “get 
thee behind me, Satan.” 

(3) By lifting our shield. ‘“ The shield of faith, wherewith 
ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked 
one.” Faith is a covering thing. It comforts and en- 
courages. A drummer-boy used to wander about fear- 
lessly in front of Sebastopol picking up bullets and cannon 
balls. When asked how he dared to do such a thing, he 
replied, “ Yonder, hidden in that trench, are fifty rifles, 
ready to shoot the first Russian who attempts to touch me.” 
It was his faith which filled him with fearlessness. And if 
we remember, “Thou God seest me,” we shall not fear. 
Satan will perceive that we “abide under the shadow of 
the Almighty.” If our faith fail not, he will be foiled. 

(4) By drawing our sword. “The sword of the spirit, 
which is the word of God.” Satan cannot stand before 
cuts and thrusts from this weapon. Jesus plied it when 
they fought together. We may not understand ow it is, 
but so it is, that a verse of the Bible is to Satan what a 
brandishing of a sword in our faces is to us. 

(5) By falling on our knees. You think that is a queer 
way to fight. Ifa soldier went on his knees in battle there 
would not be much chance for him. But it is different in 
this warfare. Prayer fetches Omnipotence to our succour. 
Just lift up your heart in prayer when “oppressed of the 
devil,” and you will receive heavenly aid, help from the 
sanctuary. There was a little girl who got the name in 
her family of the “silent sister.” When she was worried, 
or when she saw any one in distress, she had a way of 
sitting perfectly still, as if lost in thought for a minute or 
so; then a smile would steal over her face and she was as 
cheerful as anybody. She had formed the habit of “look- 
ing to Jesus,” casting her care upon Him, begging Him to 
undertake for her. She resisted Satan by prayer. These 
are some of the recipes for resisting the devil. They are of 
God’s own providing, and He expects that children, no less 
than grown-up people, will avail themselves of them. Chil- 
dren have to eat and drink for themselves, or they will die; 
and run away from danger, or they will be hurt ; and chil- 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 273 


dren must resist the devil for themselves, or he will lead 
them captive at his will. A sailor lad was floating apout 
in the Polar seas. He was in a small boat with nothing 
but an ice-hammer to defend himself with. The bears 
came swimming towards him, roaring and gnashing their 
teeth, but as fast as they set their paws on the gunwale, he 
struck them with his hammer; and so defied them till his 
companions rejoined him. Now if he had said, “I am 
only a lad, I cannot be expected to beat off these bears by 
myself,” what would become of him? But he did what 
he could, and God did all the rest for him. 

II. The promise that he shall flee. “He shall flee from 
you.” 

A tiger would not flee if a child resisted him—a robber 
would not—but Satan is stronger than either, the most 
powerful of creatures, and yet, if resisted, he shall flee from 
you! Jesus has overcome Satan. He has bruised his 
head. If we confront him in Christ’s name and strength, 
he will quail before us. In Christ’s presence Satan is an 
utter coward. He may and he will repeat his assaults, but 
every time it will be with fainter hope of success, while our 
former victories will bear us to a firmer resistance. A child 
who repels the “God of this world” is a hero indeed ! 
Jesus says of him, “ Well done.” 

Are you resisting the devil ? If not, be sure he is master- 
ing you. He only wants you to be submissive, and he will 
bind you with silken cords. 

“You can snap them when you please!” Mark this— 
they will grow tougher and harder and stouter every month 
you wear them, till at last they will get to be iron manacles 
im which, bound hand and foot, you will be his helpless 
captive. 

You have no time to lose. It is not even now too late 
to resist him, if you do it relying on the grace of Jesus. 
Oh, if he did but know it, the most wretched prisoner in his 
innermost dungeon might escape if he would! Nothing is 
too hard for the Lord. 

J. B. 


274 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


XC. Precious Blood. 1 Per.i.1g. “ The precious blood 
of Christ.” 


DuRING the days of Holy Week we commemorate our 
Lord’s agony, and on Good Friday our Lord’s death. 
And so I should like to say something to you about this 
very solemn week, when our thoughts should be about 
the precious blood of Christ with which we have been 
redeemed. 

I. About the blood of Christ. Of course you know 
what blood means in itself; and we hear of a great deal 
of bloodshed throughout the Old Testament and the New. 
When the Israelites were to go out of slavery in Egypt 
they were to kill alamb, and the blood of that lamb on the 
door was a sign for the angel to pass by. You remember 
the sacrifices that used to be offered to God, and you re- 
member in the New Testament how our Lord’s blood was 
shed on the cross, and St. Peter says: ‘““We have been 
redeemed with the precious blood of Christ.” Like a red 
thread ina skein so this crimson blood runs through the 
history of the Old and New Testament. You are not to 
think that the blood of an animal or the blood of Christ as 
man is anything in itself—the reason of its value is, the 
blood is the life. It was our Lord’s life that He gave for 
us. In the Old Testament they were told not to taste the 
blood of the animal, because the blood was the life. You 
are not to think only of the blood, but the pouring out of 
that blood meant the giving up of His life. If you poured 
out your blood through a wound it would mean your life. 
He gave His life for us to save us. If you were perishing 
in the waves, and a man jumped into the sea to save you, 
and died in so doing, he would give his life and not merely 
give an example. Christ left an example, but by the 
shedding of His blood for us are we saved. 

II. Now Peter says the blood of our Lord Jesus is 
precious—‘ The precious blood of Christ.” Boys and girls, 
if you were to live till you were eighty years of age I could 
not teach you more than this, that you are saved from 
sin, and made pure and holy for ever. I could not teach 
you more than there is in those few words—“ The precious 
blood of Christ.” You will learn more and more, as you 
grow up, how precious beyond all price, beyond all you 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 275 


can think of in any way, how precious that blood is, Oh! 
if you learn that lesson you will have learned much; 
if you have not learnt that lesson you will have learned 
nothing. If you are to know everything about astronomy 
—of the history of the great kings and men who ever lived, 
and thought, and died—all about everything that is around 
you, the earth, and the trees, and the skies, everything that 
man can speak about—even if you learn all that and do 
not know that the blood of Jesus Christ is precious, you 
have learned nothing—nothing that can help you in the 
hour of death and the solemn day of judgment. So, boys 
and girls, try to learn how precious the blood of Jesus 
Christ is, 

What makes it precious? There are some things whose 
value is in themselves. A beautiful landscape as you 
see it—you cannot purchase it. The simple beauty of the 
evening with the stars dying out one by one; when you 
gaze on it you are lost in awe. And so with the glories of 
the sea. All these things have values in themselves and 
you cannot buy them. Again, some things have great 
value because they are rare, because there is not much of 
them. You know, boys and girls, that gold would not be 
of more value than lead if it was as abundant as lead. So 
it is with the value of diamonds. Thus you see some things 
are of great value and precious because they are rare. And 
some things are of great value at different times. You 
know that a sovereign is of more value sometimes than at 
other times. One hundred pounds were, years back, of 
much greater value than they are now. You see things 
are precious and valuable in themselves because of their 
rarity and because of what they can buy. 

Now think of the precious blood of Christ—the life of 
Christ. How beautiful, how precious. Think of the beauty 
of that tender life He lived on earth and the beauty of the 
eternal life He has lived from the beginning. Think of 
the purity and love of Christ’s life. Think of how rare it 
is. Not one other life in the universe is like the life of the 
Sonof God. And, boys and girls, think of what was dought 
by it, of the immortal souls of millions and millions of 
men, of how ten thousand times more precious must be the 
precious blood of Christ—precious because of the beauty 
and holiness of its life—precious because it is the only life 


276 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


of its kind in the universe—precious because it has pur- 
chased the immortal souls of men. 

You know who used these words—St. Peter. He knew 
how precious it was. You remember how he denied Christ, 
and said, “I know not the man,” when he was afraid that 
being a friend of Jesus might get him into trouble. But 
he was forgiven by Jesus, and he counted the blood of 
Christ precious because it had saved him, 

Now, what does Christ want you to do for all this? 
What does He want in return for giving His precious life 
for you? Think of what Jesus went through. Soldiers 
spat upon Him, and beat Him, and reviled Him, blind- 
folded His eyes, and then striking Him, said: “Can 
you tell who did that?” What have you given Christ in 
return for this? What He wants is that you give Him 
your trust and love and the joy of His salvation. I can 
tell you, boys and girls, when your father or mother give 
you something, whatever it may be, their true joy is in 
seeing you take it thankfully; and that is Christ’s real 
joy, as we are told in the Bible. The Bible says, “He 
shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied.” Do 
not you, boys and girls, like to satisfy Christ? It is the 
greatest joy of His life when He sees us, who have denied 
Him and revolted against Him, accept His salvation ; and 
it is the greatest sign of His love that we are thus enabled 
to give Him joy and satisfaction. 

I read not long ago about a ship that was coming to this 
country, from another distant land, and there was a lady 
missionary on board who had been living and working 
among the heathen. One girl, a pale and delicate girl, she 
had converted, was with her. A great storm arose and the 
captain told the passengers the ship could not hold out. 
They got out a boat and in this was the lady and the little 
heathen girl. There they were in this boat days with only 
a few biscuits to eat. They were maddened with hunger 
and thirst, and there seemed no hope for them; and this 
lady, nearly worn to death by the cold and wet and hunger, 
could not sit upright. She found herself leaning on the 
fraii girl beside her. She tried not to press too heavily on 
the girl, and as she fell into a kind of swoon she heard the 
poor girl whisper to her, “Oh, if you love me lean on me.” 
The lady swooned away and did not awake till she found 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 277 


herself on board a vessel which had rescued them; but 
there seemed to be a voice from heaven saying in tendet 
accents, “If you love Me, lean on Me.” 

This is the voice of Christ. We shall be rocked on the 
wild sea of life and sin. No help for any one of us with 
the waves of sin dashing over us in the frail bark of life. 
Oh, children, above the storm, hear the words of your 
Saviour: “If you love Me, lean on Me.” That is what He 
wants to say. And I can tell you that of all the millions 
and millions through the ages who have heard that tender 
voice, and have leant upon Him, not one has He ever failed 
—not one. Ta he Se 


XCI. The Adversary. 1 Pet.v.8 ‘Your adversary 
the devil, asa roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he 
may devour.” 


In Dr. Moffat’s “Missionary Labours and Scenes in 
Africa,” there is a story about a lion lying in wait for a 
man. The man had gone to a pool of water, and then 
had lain down on a sloping rock to watch for any stray 
antelope that might come to drink; but while so doing he 
fell fast asleep. The heat of the sun reflected from the 
rock awoke him; but, when he would have risen from his 
position, he saw a large lion within little more than a yard 
of his feet, with its eyes glaring in his face! After a few 
moments he made a motion toward his gun, which he had 
laid down whilst he slept ; but the lion no sooner saw him 
move than it gave a tremendous roar. Again, after an 
interval, he made the attempt, when again the lion started 
up as if enraged at his daring to seek a weapon of defence. 
The sun’s rays soon made the rock like a heated plate 
of iron. At length the day closed. The night passed on, 
and yet every hour the lion was on the watch. The sun 
rose, the rock was soon as hot as yesterday, only by this 
time his feet had become past feeling, roasted by the 
intensity of the heat. About noon, the lion rose up and 
walked leisurely to the pool of water, eyeing the man all 
the while, so that when he once more stretched his hand 
toward his gun, the lion, enraged, made as if he would 
spring upon him. This day passed over, and another 
night also. But in the forenoon of the following day the 


278 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


lion again walked down to the water, and while there was 
arrested by a noise from another quarter, which caused 
him suddenly to plunge into the bushes and disappear. 
It was only now that the unhappy man was able to make 
his escape, worn out and barely half alive. 

It is thus that Satan watches souls; and if he sees one 
anxious to escape, oh, how he springs forward in his rage! 
His frightful roar has terrified many a soul that had nearly 
put its hand on the shield of faith, “If you become 
Christ’s,” he says, “you must make up your mind to lose 
everything.” In India, how he eyes every movement 
of those who have been made to feel the heat of wrath, 
and would fain escape. What uproar he excites! how 
incessant are his assaults day and night! Until the Lord 
interpose, arresting this mighty foe, the awakened soul is 
kept miserable, by fightings without and fears within ; but 
the Lord does come in the hour of need, by His Spirit, 
and it may be by His messengers too. Let us often pray, 
“Arise and disappoint the foe, and cast him down, O 
Lord” (Ps. xvii. 13). 

A godly woman was one Sabbath afternoon returning 
home from church. Her way was up the slope of a steep 
hill, passing the ruins of a shepherd’s cottage. It was a 
fine summer day, and she was slowly moving on, meditat- 
ing on the word and ways of God, when her attention was 
directed to a hawk flying swiftly round and round the old 
hut. She wondered why the hawk should be thus circling 
the hut, but soon she noticed that he was in close pursuit 
of a little bird, which sought to escape by making for the 
broken window of the ruin. The little bird, however, in 
its alarm and confusion could not make out the window, 
but flew past it again and again. But now, as the good 
woman who observed the scene drew near, the hawk’s eye 
rested on her; his pursuit was not so keen as before—and 
while he abated his chase, the little bird got presence of 
mind to dart in at the broken window, and escape. The 
good woman found it fluttering and breathless, though in 
a few minutes it was able to fly off, unhurt, to its nest. 
She said she thought of a poor soul awakened, anxious to 
enter into rest, and always looking towards Christ in whom 
the sinner is saved ; but always prevented coming into the 
cleft of the Rock by Satan hotly pursuing, raising up 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 279 

‘opposition, suggesting difficulties, and presenting wrong 

views of the Saviour. But at length, in a time of love, 

esus draws near; perhaps by sending some one like © 

Philip (Acts viii. 20). Satan flees, and the soul finds the 
entrance. 

Is this your case? Has it ever been yourcase? Iam sure 
if you have ever felt thus, you will pity others. You will 
have an intense desire to send to others such messengers 
of peace as Philip, who was sent to the Ethiopian eunuch ; 
you will pray that such may be sent to souls at home, and 
to souls in heathen lands, and to any among the Jews who 
may be moaning, “Thou huntest me as a fierce lion” (Job 
x. 16); or as Jeremiah, “Mine enemies chased me sore, 
like a bird” (Lam. iii. 52); but who might soon sing, if 
you sent them the knowledge of the Saviour, “ Our soul is 
escaped as a bird” (Ps. cxxiv. 7); ay, as the bird that, 
‘dipped in the blood of its fellow, was let loose in the open 
field—emblematic of a soul bathed in the blood of Him 
who was our fellow, and whose death is our life (Lev. 
xiv. 7). 


A. A. B. 


XCII. The Shining Word. 2 Per.iiig. “We 
_ have alsoa more sure word of prophecy ; whereunto ye do well 
that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, 


_ until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.” 


Now I must ask you to pay particular attention to these 
three words, Night, Lamp, Day, as our talk will be about 
them. 

I. Night. The light shines in a dark place. The world 
isin night. Three things make it dark: 1. Ignorance; 
2. Sin; 3. Sorrow. 

Are there parts of the world where people are ignorant 
of God? Yes. What do they make instead? Idols. 
They worship gods made by themselves. You could take 
one, and carry it about with you; yet the heathen bow 
down to these bits of wood and stone. Do you remember 
what Isaiah, in his 44th chapter, says about the silliness of 
worshipping a god made by man? He describes a man 
going away into the forest, and hewing down a tree with 
his hatchet, and then making an idol out of it; then 


i 


: 


280 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


taking the chips, and putting them into the fire, and roast: 
ing his dinner at it. Yet he goes and worships a bit of 
the tree, part of which he burnt in the fire. You remems 
ber the story of a woman in India, with her young huss 
band, who had ordered an idol from the carpenter for theif 
new house. Well, the carpenter was rather a long time in” 
getting it ready; and whilst they were wondering and 
wearying for it, a missionary came and read a part of that 
chapter, and the young wife said to herself, “ That is a very 
curious bit of reading to bein that book; it must bea 
very wise book. Our carpenter is just doing the very 
thing that book says. I think we might do without his 
idol.” And so, by and by, they had their eyes open, and 
they came to worship the true God. i 
But we may be in darkness here, although we may know 
what the Bible is saying to us about God ; and that brings 
me to the second thing—Sin. Although T say God mad e 
me, and He is almighty, holy, good, and a great many 
things of that sort, yet if I sin, it is dark down in my 
heart. Sorrow, too, makes hearts dark. Suppose some 
time at night an angel should come down to London, and 
say to you: “Come, and I will show you what houses have” 
dark hearts in them. What houses there are where the 
people do not know God—where they are all distressed 
with their sins—where they have death, and sorrow, and 
affliction.” Do you think there would bea great many 
houses that would be bright? Not a great many; for 
make the houses dark where there is ignorance—make the 
houses dark where there is sin and where there is much 
sorrow, and there would be comparatively few left. It is 
the night season with us all—it is the night time. hi 
II, Lamp. But, secondly, what do we have to give us a 
little light at night, that helps to cheer and drive away the 
darkness? We have the stars, but they are not always 
visible ; and sometimes we have the moon, but not all round” 
the month. Now, suppose we had neither the stars nor 
moon to shine for us, what would we have to help us a little f 
We might have a lamp. Well, that is what the text says 
we have in dark places. What is the lamp that burns dows 
here in the dark night to guide our steps? The Bible: 
Prove that from Psalm cxix. 105—“ Thy Word is a lamp 
unto my feet and a light unto my path.” Well, then, that i ig 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 281 


the lamp. Prove from the same psalm that young people 
should take very good heed to this lamp—unto its shining 
—gth verse— Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his 
way, by taking heed thereto according to Thy Word.” 
Did you ever try to go out in a dark night with a lantern? 
You require to take care how it shines; you might have a 
lantern and confuse yourself with it. You must hold it so 
that the light will fall in front of you, You see a coach- 
man driving a carriage on a dark night—does he sit in the 
light? No; the lamps are so placed that they throw their 
light on the road before him, so that he can see if he is 
going all right while he sits away back in the dark. Then 
_ suppose a man had a lamp inadark house. He says: “I 
have got a lamp,” there it is; but he never lights the lamp; 
do you think it would help him much? No. Then he 
puts a wick into the lamp, but doesn’t put any oil; will 
that help him? No, it would not. Then he puts a little 
oil; wouldn't that give him alight? It would bea very 
poor light ; but when he puts in more oil the light will get 
brighter, and he says, “See what a nice lamp I have got.” 
Well, suppose this man, having got the nice bright lamp, 
was to go and put a bushel over it, and cover it up, would 
it give much light then? No. Who is it that speaks 
about that? Jesus Christ. “No man having lighted a 
candle putteth it under a bushel, but sets it on a stand to 
give light to all that are in the house.” So that is the way 
in which we must take heed. We must keep the lamp 
well trimmed. What is the lamp that shines all through 
time? It is the Bible; and to take heed to it is to read it, 
and to think of what it says to us, and to act according to 
it, “taking heed to our way according to Thy Word’— 
that is doing what the Bible tells us. If a person does 
what the Bible tells him, will he fall into the ditch in the 
darkness? No; but if you don’t mind your Bible lamp, 
you will be going on one day, thinking you are doing very 
nicely and safely, and you will fall into the ditch because 
you didn’t take heed. 

III. Day. Is this Bible-lamp to burn all through the 
night of Time? It is. God will not take it away all through 
the night of Time. But will it burn after the day comes? 
It will not be needed then. I don’t know what God will do 
with His Bible then—I don’t suppose it will live in ¢izs form 


282 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


—made of paper, and printed with ink, and bound with 
leather ; but the light that is in the Bible will be in heaven, — 
for what is the light that is in the Bible? It is the Holy | 
Spirit, or, you may say, it is Jesus Christ revealed there © 
by the Spirit. Now prove that Jesus Christ is the light” 
of heaven from Rev. xxi. 23: “And the city had no need 
of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the 
glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light 
thereof.” Well, that is the day—the coming of Christ. 
Who is the daystar in that verse? Jesus Christ. What | 
is the daystar? The sun must be the daystar, Hence 
we have in our hymn— 


“ Christ, whose glory fills the skies, 
Christ, the true, the only Light, 
Sun of Righteousness, arise, 
Triumph o’er the shades of night; 
Dayspring from on high, be near ; 
Daystar, in our hearts appear” ! 


Christ Jesus, who is to come and shine over the world — 
in the Resurrection. Suppose now, when wicked men are — 
raised up, and Jesus Christ is in the heavens, coming with — 
great glory all round about Him, will it be clear day to — 
them do you think? No, it will not ; they will be terribly © 
afraid of the glory. Suppose a man were to go to heaven, ~ 
and go in without the daystar of Christ in his heart, would 
it be a bright and happy place to him? No, it would 
not; because he has no eye to see its light. He has not — 
the love of Jesus Christ in his heart, and so it is all dark © 
with him. Suppose I had an image of wood in the centre 
of the hall, and I was to say to it: “Do you see much — 
just now?” and there was no answer. I say: “Oh no, it 
is dark to that image, bring me a light, and throw it upon © 
the eyes of the image; would it see then?” No, it would 
not. You see, then, you must not only have a light, but 
you must have the heart to receive the light, and so it says: 
“The day star shall arise in your heart.” Well, that will — 
be in heaven, when Christ comes to those that will have 
Him, and He will shine in their hearts, and when He 
shines in their hearts all will be glory, and they will not 
need any sun nor moon. 
J). E. 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 283 


XCIII. Drinking of the same Well. 1 Jonni. 7. 
“ The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 


OF all the thousands of bullets that have been discharged 
during a battle, or during the course of a siege, perhaps 
not one could be pointed to as having brought more than 
one foe to the ground. Long ago an arrow was sent from 
the bow of a skilful archer into the right eye of Philip, 
king of Macedon; but that same arrow never did a like 
service again. Very different, however, is the case in 
spiritual warfare, and with weapons drawn from the 
armoury of God. The same text of Scripture that has 
wounded one, has often wounded many besides. Like an 
arrow feathered that it may fly the better, the truth of God 
is expressed in memorable words ; and perhaps each such 
memorable text has, in every age, done work for God in 
the case of hundreds of souls. 

We wish you to feel that the same word of God that 
has been blessed to you may be blessed to others, that so 
you may eagerly seek to make known the truth at home 
and abroad. We wish also to impress upon you, that if 
you are still a stranger to the truth in its power—still a 
heathen, with salvation within your reach—you, even you, 
may find it where it has been found by other souls. 

We could mention some six or eight cases that occur 
to us at this moment, in which that one verse, 1 John i. 7, 
has been blessed to bring in amazing light and joy to sin- 
burdened souls. Thirsty soul, stay at this well—“ The 
blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 
It is the water in that well, not anything in you, that is to 
remove your burning thirst. It is the truth in that text— 
the truth that God’s own Son poured out His life to 
remove from us the sentence, “Thou shalt die”—it is that 
which He has done, and not anything in our own character 
or life, that is God’s reason for putting away sin from any 
of us sinners. And He is never weary in applying Christ’s 
blood, never unwilling. Never does He upbraid us for the ° 
past ; never does He delay when we come. 

We could mention at this moment not a few cases, from 
the Ethiopian eunuch downward, where the reading of 
Isaiah liii. has been water of life to the thirsty. They were 
led truly to drink in the truth that God provided the 


284 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


Lamb for the sacrifice; and that it is the living and dying 
of this Lamb of God, and not any suffering, self-denial, 
sorrow, obedience of ours, that is taken by the Father as 
atonement. Drink of this well, and having drunk yourself, 
tell it to Jew and Gentile, tell it to great and small, tell 
it to the whole creation. 

The poet Cowper, when first led to see the black cloud 
of. his sins, was guided by the Holy Spirit into peace and 
joy by one day reading the words of Romans iii. 24, 25, 
“ Being justified freely by His grace, through the redemp- 
tion that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be 
a propitiation through faith in His blood.” He saw, as he 
sat musing on the words, how God waits not for merit in 
us, but advances to us from motives of love that spring 
up in His own bosom ; and how he meets what the law 
demands, by the offering of His own Son—an offering 
which is held forth for the acceptance of every sinner that 
has a heart to understand. 

It was of this same well, only at another side of it, 
that Colonel Gardiner drank, when, after his awakening, 
he had for weeks gone on in gloom, imagining that God’s 
justice must insist on the damnation of such an enormous 
sinner as he saw himself to be. About the end of October, 
-1719, he read the words: “Whom God hath set forth! to 
be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare 
His righteousness for the remission of sins, . . . that 
He might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth 
in Jesus” (Rom. iii. 25,26). Here he saw the riches of 
redeeming grace and love in such a manner as even 
swallowed up (as he expressed it) his whole heart in love; 
so that, for seven years after he had thus drunk of this 
well, he enjoyed a heaven upon earth, from the time of his 
waking in the morning till evening closed his eyes. 

The same Holy Spirit, the Guide into the truth, liveth 
still. May He lead thee to these wells of salvation, and 
bring thee up from them in the spirit of Isaiah xii. 4, 5: 
“And in that day shall ye say, Praise the Lord! cia 
Sing unto the Lord; for He hath done excellent things: 
this be known in all the earth.” 

AAB 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 285 


XCIV. The Love of God. 1 Joun iv. 8. “He that 
loveth not, knoweth not God ; for God ts love.” 


THE first half of the Christian year was given to us to 
show what God has done for us, and the second for us to 
learn to serve God. We cannot have the second half 
without the first. There must come first God’s love to us 
and then our love to God. There must come first all that 
our Lord Jesus Christ did for us, before we can do any- 
thing for Him. That is what our Church means by put- 
ting first all the great love and sacrifice of Christ for us, 
that afterwards we may be able—how could we do other- 
wise ?—to give ourselves as a sacrifice acceptable and 
well-pleasing unto God. That is part of the Gospel I have 
read to-day. It is all about love; because we must start 
by first knowing that Christ loves us, and then loving 
Christ in return. It is all love. We are told that love is 
the root of all true obedience before God. And then we 
are told in the Gospel the story of the rich man and 
Lazarus, to show how awful a thing it is to neglect our 
duty towards God. We are told two things: that all work 
must spring from love, and then we are told of the awful 
danger of neglecting to do our duty towards God and our 
neighbour. 

Love must be the root of all true work. Suppose you 
are doing anything for your father or mother: if you do 
it through love it is a joy to your father or mother. I tell 
you, boys and girls, your parents would rather have it done 
badly if it was done through love, than to have the most 
perfect conduct if it does not spring from love. In this 
life all true work for those who love us must be done in 
love to them. So it is and in a much higher sense in our 
love to Jesus Christ. Our love for Christ must spring 
from thinking of His great love for us in dying for us. 

There may be a certain amount of kindness to animals, 
and to our fellow-creatures. Boys and girls are naturally 
fond of dogs, and cats, and pets, and they think it is a 
religious thing to be kind to animals. And you who have 
good homes see poor children in rags, and you think what 
aterrible thing it is, and you help them. This may be 
done, and without love to Jesus Christ. Here is one little 
child who is doing her duty every day, because she prays 


286 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


to God morning and evening for strength to doit. And 
there is another little child who is doing the same thing, 
and yet not with the same motive. It is just the differ- 
ence between two flowers. You have got a rose, and it 
has no root, and there is a rose growing upon the tree, and 
the latter has roots, and the sap and the life come up into 
it, and there are the little buds that surround it. That is 
just the difference between two kinds of work; the things 
we do because we are united to Jesus Christ, these are the 
flowers that will continue to blossom for ever, and will be 
full of fragrance when we are gathered into the garden 
of the Lord. The others are only cut flowers after all, and 
the day will come when they will utterly die. All true 
earnest work for God must be done for love to Jesus Christ. 

This love is like a stream that rises in some far distant 
place and flows down the valley, and on its banks flowers 
blossom and wild plants are growing into beauty because 
they are watered by the stream. So all things will be 
beautiful and joyous that are watered by the stream of 
love that flows from the heart of God Himself. 

Then as to the awful danger of neglecting this, It is not 
“not doing any particular harm” will save you. The rich 
man was not a murderer, the rich man was not a thief, the 
rich man was not a drunkard. We are only t ld what he 
did zot do. He did not do his duty to his poor neighbour, 
and to God. You know the awful ending. In torment 
he lifted up his eyes and saw Lazarus afar off. And take 
care, boys and girls, take care of those sins we call “sins 
of omission.” The sins of self-satisfaction, of pride, of 
feeling “I am everything, other people are nothing.” We 
are all members of one family, the family of which the 
Lord Jesus Christ is the elder brother; and the day will 
come, boys and girls, when you who are rich and pros- 
perous in this life will be just as the beggar in the streets, 
and—though God forbid—if you will do nothing for the 
sake of Jesus Christ, who gave Himself upon the cross to 
save you from your sins, you may be infinitely beneath the 
poorest little one who has felt in his rags the love of God 
and Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Remember, you are not one little atom by yourself; we 
are all members of the family of the kingdom of God. 

A friend wrote me, a short time ago, of an incident that 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 287 


happened in Germany. The Emperor, a great hero, a 
grand man, a great soldier, and a great king, is eighty-six 
years of age, yet still leads his soldiers to battle, and 
governs his people. And this great emperor while pass- 
ing through a village a short time ago entered the village 
school. The boys and girls did not know who the kind 
old gentleman was. And he asked what lessons they were 
doing, and he was told Natural Science. That is, you 
know, about the various kingdoms to which everything 
belongs. There is the animal kingdom, and the mineral 
kingdom, and the vegetable kingdom. And he asked the 
question, pointing to the stones outside the door, “ What 
kingdom do those belong to?” And they said, “The 
mineral kingdom.” Then he pointed to the tree they 
could see through the window, and asked to what king- 
dom that belonged. And they answered, rightly, to the 
vegetable kingdom. And then he said—to give them an 
example of the animal kingdom—“to what kingdom do I 
belong?” Most of them said, “to the animal kingdom,” 
for man is an animal. But one tiny child replied, “to 
the kingdom of God.” 

And the old man bowed his imperial head, and laid his 
hand on the little child, and said: “Thank you, my little 
child, for that.” It touched him to remember that he, 
master of a hundred legions, the emperor of thousands 
of people, should be reminded by that little humble child 
that after all he was a member of the kingdom of God. 
So every one of us is. 

T. T.S. 


XCV. Idolatry. 1 Joun v.21. “Lite children keep 
yourselves from idols.” 


AN idol is a heathen god. In the second commandment 
it is called a “graven image.” The figure of Dagon, which 
fell upon its face to the earth before the ark of the Lord ; 
the golden calf, which Aaron cast for the Israelites ; the 
statues of Jupiter and Diana, which the Greeks worshipped ; 
and those of Vishnu, Buddha, and Juggernaut, which are 
to be found in India and China now—all these belong 
to the abominable family of idols) Men bow down te 
them and serve them. 


288 SERMONS TO CHILDREN, 


These idols are :— 

Ist. The works of human handicraft. 

2nd. They are foolish. 

3rd. They are helpless. 

4th. They are hideous. 

5th. They are hurtful. 

And so the poor heathen sink deeper and deeper in de- 
gradation, darkness, cruelty and sin. Pity them and seek 
to send them the Bible, and pray for the time when they 
shall fling their idols to the moles and to the bats, and 
worship the alone true God. 

But now you may say, “What have we English boys 
and girls to do with idols? There are none around us.” 
Thank God that it is so. Thank God that ages ago the 
last idol vanished out of Britain. Thank God that your 
parents never taught you to bend your knees tothem. And 
yet here in the text you are told to keep yourselves from 
idols. The Apostle wrote these words to Christians, not to 
heathens. By “little children” he means the young and inex- 
perienced; those who are setting out on the heavenly way, or 
who are naturally weak and simple. But still what are the 
“idols” which they are to keep themselves from? If an idol 
is a thing which draws the heathen away from the living 
God, may not anything which does this be named an idol ? 

It is possible for “little children” to make such “ idols ” 
of certain things, as that they shall quite estrange them 
from God, who deserves their best thoughts and affections 
and services; whoclaims the bloom and dew of their days. 

I. Idol self. 

This love of self is born in us, and, if not early checked, 
will be our master. It tempts you to falsehood, to unkind- 
ness, to greediness, to pride, for it feeds upon these. You 
must gratify it at whatever cost, and then it often demands 
more than you can obtain for it. Self is a dreadful idol. 
Beware of it. 

II. Idol dress. 

We like bright colours and nice attire; but there is dan- 
ger on the other side—danger of thinking more of the 
“outward adorning” than of those hidden ornaments of © 
neatness and quietness, which are so priceless in God’s 
esteem. You may forget the pearl, in anxiety about its 
setting. Fashion is a perilous boat for you to venture 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 289 


in, and before you are aware it may wreck you amongst 
sharks. 

III. Idol food. 

It cannot be denied that “little children” may be so 
fond of nice things,so fond of the dainty things of the 
table, that they are their idols. They dream of them, and 
clamour after them, and are angry when they cannot have 
them. The wholesome things are despised because they 
are plain. They are ever on the watch for the opening of 
cupboards, the uncovering of jars, the approach of eating 
shops. We hope you can say “ That is not my idol.” 

IV. Idol pleasure. 

Do not little children encourage the passion for exciting 
amusements till they are miserable without them, though 
sO many innocent recreations remain to them? They 
must have the fruit of the forbidden tree. It is as if a bee 
should be sighing in the middle of a clover and cowslip 
meadow, because he missed a dandelion here and there! 
We have known children whose Sundays were a “ weart- 
ness” to them, and their studies a positive punishment. 
That should not beso. Their pleasures were their idols. 
Now you are exhorted to keep yourselves from them. 

(1) You can implore from above daily assistance against 
them. If they are too heavy for you to move, beg God to 
aid you, and in His almighty strength you can lift the 
sturdiest and cast it out of the bosom, if not at once, yet 
by degrees. 

(2) Be vigilant against them. Search yourself to dis- 
cover if they are within you. Faithfully say to yourself, 
“Am I the temple of this or that idol?” 

If you are heedless they will creep in. 

(3) Be self-denying. This is a capital cure for these 
idols. It may be hard to flesh and blood to do it ; but it 
is a bit which we must thrust into our own mouths for our 
own advantage! Without it, we shall be as those who 
ride wilful horses, which won’t stop or turn, and which pitch 
them over directly they touch them with whip or spur. If 
you can “deny yourself” you have the secret of victory 
over these idols. 

(4) Yield your heart to God. You have not two hearts; 
therefore if God has your heart, these idols cannot have it. 

Endeavour to occupy it for God, to present it to God 

U 


2g0 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


continually, to view it as consecrated to God. Implore 
the Saviour to dwell in it by His Holy Spirit, and with 
Him reigning there all “idols” will be banished—you shall 
be kept from them, though you are but a “little child.” 

J. B. 


XCVI. Heaven. Rev. vii. 1-17. 


OuR subject is Heaven. When a person is going to visit 
a far-off country, he is generally very much interested in 
that country, and consults maps and guide-books, so that 
he may know something about it. We all hope to spend 
an eternity in heaven, so it is well to know something about 
it. The glories of heaven are many. We will consider 
four of these glories :— 

I. In heaven there 1s work without weariness.—God made 
man for work, and we never can be truly happy without 
it. It is a great mistake to suppose that they are happiest 
who never need to work unless they choose, and who never 
choose to work. Employments and enjoyments go to- 
gether. If you work with a will, you will have great plea- 
sure in work. There are no idlers in heaven. In Eden 
there were no idlers. “Therefore are they before the 
throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His 
temple” (ver. 15). They have abundance of work. They 
work not at their own will. It is said that they serve God. 
There is a great difference between work and service. The 
will of God is law tothem. They do what God commands, 
and they do it with their whole heart. There will be 
plenty of work serving God, and no one will be weary. 
They are like servants standing before the throne of their 
sovereign, ready to do all that he commands. They are 
to be ready to do the work of God; and a large part of 
that work is worship, and the special part of worship is 
praise. The church is like a little heaven, for in heaven, 
they love worship. 

A woman went to her minister for a certificate. She 
was going to America, and had to leave some of her family 
behind her, but she said that she regretted most of all that 
she had to leave the church. She had something of the 
spirit of heaven. A young man got a fine situation in the 
country with a large salary, yet he said that he did not 
want to leave the church were he had first worshipped God 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN, 291 


from the heart. All work on earth makes us weak and 
weary. Honest work, heartily done, gives pleasure, but 
weariness soon spoils that pleasure. In heaven they have 
no weariness. They serve as angels. Life is kept in the 
body by means of some muscles in the heart, through 
which the blood flows to all parts of the body. Men would 
die if they stopped for a single minute. These muscles go 
on working day and night, yet they have no weariness, 
Our bodies in heaven will be like these muscles, so that we 
shall work day and night without weariness. 

II. Lx heaven there ts joy without sorrow.—You may have 
joy in this world. If you have health and common sense, 
and, above all, the grace of God, life will be to you a source 
of joy. The gospel is a joyous message, and the Christian 
life is a joyous life. It is not the religion of Jesus, but the 
want of it, that makes people sad. If you have not some 
drops of sorrow in every cup of joy, you will be the first 
child of Adam in such a condition. The sorrow is sent to 
remind us that our souls must rise above earth, and seek 
joys without sorrow. Health is a joy, but sickness comes. 
Food is a great blessing, but with many the wolf comes to 
the door. A happy home isa blessing, but all homes have 
their own dark shadows. Youth is a great blessing, but 
old age comes. It is not so in heaven. All these joys 
are there without sorrow. “They shall hunger no more, 
neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, 
nor any heat” (ver. 16). In the East, sunstroke often 
brings sickness and death. Some people call this world 
a “vale of tears.” This world is like a valley with a river 
flowing through it filled with tears. Look at the last part 
of the 17th verse: “And God shall wipe away all tears 
from their eyes.” There shall be no tears there. Those 
who have had many sorrows on earth, so that they go into 
heaven almost with wet cheeks, will be comforted by God, 
for He will wipe away their tears with His own hand, and 
turn their sorrow into joy. 

A gentleman was praised for his missionary work. He 
rose up and said that he only wished to get from man 
what he hoped to get from God: “Well done, good and 
faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” 
This is a joy which children may have. It is not a joy of 
the body, nor of the mind, but a joy of the heart and soul, 


292 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


coming from love. People must become as children before 
they can enter heaven, so these joys are for children. 

III. Ln heaven there is safety without danger.—Jesus is 
called the Saviour because He saves us, or makes us safe 
The chief blessing which Jesus brings is salvation. Salva- 
tion is a Latin word meaning safety. There is always 
danger on earth. There are many passages in the Bible 
warning even the best about their danger. Those who 
wrote the Bible seem to have had a loving fear. The path 
of life is full of snares, and even the best may fall. Dur- 
ing last year 631 partridges have been picked up on the 
South-Western railway, killed by flying against the tele- 
graph wires. Who would think of danger to little birds 
from the telegraph wires! All of us are in danger. There 
is hope of every sinner so long as he is out of hell, and 
there is fear of every saint so long as he is out of heaven. 

You have heard about the Welsh colliers, who were ten 
days ina mine, buried without food and without water. 
Men at the peril of their lives bravely rescued them. 
Crowds of people went to the colliery during these ten 
days. When the news came that the colliers had been 
reached, and when the first collier was brought up, there 
was a death-like pause, and then the crowd shouted with 
joy, because the men saw their comrades saved. But their 
joy was soon checked when they were told that these poor 
men were so weak that they were still in great danger. 
They were safe wzth danger. The mighty multitude in 
heaven is safe zwzthout danger ; they have everlasting safety 
without any danger. “And (they) cried with a loud voice, 
saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, 
and unto the Lamb” (ver. 10). There they sing songs in 
praise of salvation. They sing of salvation in its fullest 
sense. They all join in taking up the hymn, and saying, 
in the 12th verse, “ Amen.” 

IV. ln heaven they have rest without end—The Book of 
Revelation is a book which tells us a great deal about 
heaven. When the Apostle was writing to the poor Chris- 
tians, he comforted them by saying, “There remaineth a 
rest for the children of God.” He was addressing those 
whose lives were a sore battle. Read the 17th verse. 
What a beautiful picture of rest! You have all heard of 
a book called Richard Baxter’s “ Sainte’ Everlasting Rest.” 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 203 


Baxter was in ill-health, so he did not often get a good 
night’s rest, but he knew of a better kind of rest. This 
does not contradict the statement about work. Almost all 
the enjoyments you have are just work. Holiday rest is 
just loved work. A poet says, “ The want of occupation is 
not rest.” 

What a beautiful home heaven is !—work without weari- 
ness, joy without sorrow, safety without danger, rest 
without end! What boy or girl would not wish to dwell 
there? Homes on earth will be taken from us. A little 
girl cried when she was told that her father’s house was to 
be taken down. She was told that her father had gota 
new house, but she asked if it might not be pulled down 
too. They answered her that it might. Then she said 
they would go and live in a boat on the sea. She saw that 

.that would not do, and then she said, “ We must all die and 
flit to heaven. Every home on earth will be pulled down.” 

This chapter begins by describing an earthquake. Hum- 
boldt travelled far to know what an earthquake was. When 
he was in South America, an earthquake visited the place 
where he was staying. Ina moment he said that all his 
feelings of safety were gone. Houses were falling, trees 
moving, the very mountains were reeling ; and when he 
went to the harbour, the sea had fled, and the ships were 
on the dry ground. Every refuge failed him; but when 
he looked up, the heavens were calm and unmoved. That 
is just John’s picture of the end of the world. Those who 
live to see the end of the world must look up like the 
German philosopher. If they have faith in Christ, they 
will look up to heaven. Some will be shut out of heaven. 
You must be heavenly here if you would go there. Think 
about heaven. Many hate the thought of leaving this 
earth, so God has told us about heaven that we may love 
to go there. 

A lady whose father died said she had never been able 
to consent to her father going away, until one day she was 
reading in the Bible about heaven, and she exclaimed, 
“Oh, what a blessed place!” She could not wish her 
father back when she thought of the joys of heaven. John 
Bunyan tells about Christian and Hopeful going through 
the river. The king’s messengers came for them, and it 
seemed as if all the hosts of heaven came to meet 


294 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


them. Then they opened the gate, and he got a glimpse 
of the city,“ which when I saw,I wished myself among 
them.” Open the eyes of your soul, and the thought of 
heaven will not make you feel strange. 

“And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What 
are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence 
came they ?” (ver. 13). The elder was astonished to see 
so many men of a sinful race there. A gentleman once 
heard Mr. Arnot preaching in the open air. He said that 
he used a beautiful illustration. It was a fine summer 
evening. There was a thunder-cloud right above them. 
He looked up to the cloud, and said, “ What are these 
which are arrayed in white robes?” The sides of a thun- 
der-cloud are often lined with silver. He explained that 
the water which formed that cloud was drawn from the 
most filthy pools, as well as from the beautiful rivers, by, 
the heat of the sun. So the Sun of Righteousness shines 
on all, and they are drawn up and made heavenly in heart. 
“They have washed their robes, and made them white in 
the blood of the Lamb.” J. W. 


XCVII. Whosoever will. Rev. xxii. 17. “ Whoso- 
ever will, let him take of the water of life freely.” 


HAVE you anything to pay ?—nothing. There is a story 
of a gentleman that got into a railway carriage. Another 
gentleman came in after him, and his friend on the platform 
said, “Are you insured?” He answered, “Yes.” The 
gentleman who was first in the carriage—a Christian man 
—-said to his fellow-passenger, after he was seated, “ How 
long are you insured for?” “For a year,” he replied. 
“Only for a year!” said the other; “I am insured for ever.” 
“But that must be very expensive!” “Oh, no! I am 
insured for ever, and it cost me nothing, and will cost you 
nothing. My insurance cost God His own Son, but it cost 
me nothing.” 

It cost much to dig the well of salvation; but it is dug— 
dug deep—and it will cost you nothing to drink. _Remem- 
ber that this is the last invitation in the Bible. You have 
a great many invitations in the Bible, but this is the last. 
God has never spoken from heaven since this last chapter 


SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 295 


of the Bible was written. It is the last message He has 
sent, and a very loving message it is. 

God wants you to be holy and happy, and for this pur- 
pose He gives you the water of life. And when He said 
these words, did He mean you? Yes, He meant you— 
everybody. It is long since these words were spoken— 
more than eighteen hundred years—but He means those 
that live in this present age just as much as those living 
in the time when the words were spoken. “ Whosoever 
will, let him take the water of life freely.” 

There is a well for the world—think of that—so deep 
that itcan never be dried up. And itis an old well; people 
have been drinking of that well for six thousand years, and 
it is not dry yet. It isa clear well,—beautiful water, and 
cold, so as torefresh the weary, flowing up, and flowing ever. 
Its waters are for you. From beginning to end this Bible 
tells us of the well of living water,—free love in Christ 
Jesus, free pardon and everlasting life to the sons of men. 

“Water of life.’ What does that mean? It means water 
that gives life. The water of life is something that man 
cannot give. It is that which God has given,—that which 
God has sent us in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ ; so 
that he who has Christ has the living water, the water that 
gives life to the soul. 

This water of life is that which God has provided for 
making you holy and happy. This well is full of the love 
of God, the peace of God ; he who has it has the love of 
God, the peace of God. God has sent His message of love 
in Christ Jesus, His message of peace in Christ Jesus: “ God 
so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, 
that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but 
have everlasting life.” 

You all want to be happy. This is the thirst which is 
in your soul. When you are playing, that shows that you 
want to be happy. When you are going about from day 
to day with your companions, or when you are in the house, 
you want to be happy. But you don’t know how. You 
go to every other well but the one that will make you 
happy. Now God says, You want to be happy, and I will 
tell you how tohave your soul filled with happiness : here 
is the well of the water of life for you. If a man drink of 
this, he will live for ver: for when a man gets this great 


296 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 


peace and love of God into his heart, he is holy and happy 
for ever. 

The next thing to notice is that word “freely.” How 
much have we to pay!—Nothing at all. In our country 
water is cheap. But in the East it is dearer. If you were 
in Alexandria or Cairo, you would see a man with a great 
skin over his shoulder, crying, “ Water for a para!”—about 
a farthing. But when we go for this water, we get it for 
nothing. “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the 
waters, and he that hath no money.” Freely, freely, freely ; 
he that hath no money—nothing to pay! That is God’s 
message about this living water. Do you pay anything for 
sunshine ?—No, nothing. How much do the crows pay for 
their dinner every day ? How much do the lilies pay for 
their whiteness >—Nothing. So all we get from God is 
free. And He says, “Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill 
it.” Thus He feeds the ravens, paints the lilies and says, 
“Open thy mouth wide, and I will pour the water of life 
into it freely.” 

“Jesus the water of life will give 
Freely, freely, freely.” 

Notice the word “take,” in the next place, Just take it, 
God doesn’t say, Now, come and wait for it, and after you 
have waited a week, a month, or a year, then you are at 
liberty to take it. No; He says, Take it just there. God 
doesn’t keep us waiting for pardon, If we haven't it now, 
it is because we don’t take it. He does not keep us wait- 
ing for life. If we haven’t it now, it is because we don’t 
take it. When Christ was here, He fed the multitudes, 
sometimes five thousand, sometimes seven thousand. How 
did He get the bread? He made it. Did He make them 
pay anything ?—-No. What had they to do ?—Just to take 
it, that was all. Did Hedo soon the spot?—Yes. He 
gave, they took. Now the whole thing in regard to the 
water of life, pardon, peace, salvation, is just this,—God 
gives, we take; that is all. 

And this message is sent to everybody. “Whosoever will, 
let him take of the water of life freely.” H. B. 


INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 


Abide with us, 178. 
Abraham’s Trial, 5. 
Account, The, 227. 
Adversary, The, 277. 
Ananias and Sapphira, 216. 
Ark of God, The, 37. 


Bad Company, 75. 

Bad Habits, 107. 

Bethesda, The Pool of, 191. 
Bread, The Living, 197. 
Bread of Life, The, 195. 


Centurion, The, 116. 
Children’s Book, The, 248. 
Children, Faithful, 262. 
Children of Light, 243. 
Children, Obedient, 245. 
Christ in the Storm, 136. 
Christ, The Blood of, 131. 
Christ’s Drawing Power, 204. 
Cross, The, 208. 


Demoniac of Gadara, The, 139. 


Devil, Resisting the, 270. 


Ethiopian Eunuch, The, 218. 
Evil Spirits, 137. 
Excuses, 167. 


Fear of the Lord, The, 53. 
Fig-tree, The Barren, 165. 


Gates, 97. 

Giants, 256. 

Gideon, 25. 

Gift, A, 234. 

Gift, God’s Unspeakable, 237. 
Go Forward, 17. 

God, the Creator, 1. 


God, The Love of, 284. 

Good Example of Four Wise 
Creatures, The, 80. 

Grapes, A Bunch of, 104. 


“ He took them up in His Arms,” 
149. 
Heaven, 290. 

» The True Way to, 206. 
Herodias’s Daughter, 143. 
Hospital Sunday, 117. 

House of Wisdom, The, 7o. 


Idolatry, 287. 
Isaac, 8. 


Jairus’ Daughter, 141. 
Joseph and his Brethren, 13. 
Joy over one Penitent, 169. 
Joyful Sound, The, 61. 


Knocking, 159. 
Knowledge and Wisdom, 68. 


Loaf and the Hungry Multitude, 
The, 193. 

Lamb Slain, The, 94. 

Lamb of God, Behold the, 180. 

Leaf, The Fading, 102. 

Left to Himself, 77. 

Lent, 133. 

Lemuel, The Words of King, 83. 

Lights, 251. 

Living Epistles, 229. 

Lost Sinner and the Seeking 
Saviour, The, 175. 


Maid, The Little, 48. 
Ministering Child, A, 28. 
Message, An Easter, 151. 


x 


298 


INDEX. 


Nathanael, 186. 
Net, The Spread, 62. 


One Thing, 156. 
Out of the Depths, 264. 


Parting Alike, 43. 
Paul’s Sister’s Son, 221. 
Precious Blood, 273. 


Pride, 109. 


Refreshment Sunday, 146, 
Rock of Ages, 87. 
Roots of Bitterness, 267. 


Samuel, 32. 

Saved by a Cry, 214. 

Sea, On the, 123. 

“Send and fetch him,” 39. 
Solomon’s Prayer, 45. 


Sowing, 241. 

Storms of Life, The, 113. 
Strength, The Secret of True, 89 
Summer and its Lessons, 58. 


Tears, The Redeemer’s, 201. 
Time, The Waste of, 129. 
Treasure Trove, The, 65. 


Well, Drinking of the Same, 282. 

Witnessing Children, 124. 

What is it to be to Me? 23. 

What shall we do? 153. 

Where to carry our sins, 51 

White Garments, 85. 

Whosoever Will, 294. 

Why Children should Come to 
Jesus, 171. 

Word of God, The, 260. 

Word, The Shining, 279. 


GENESIS, 


2 31 soe eco eee 
SERA eesiacel | isas 
9” 10 eee eco eee 
VTA ccallicace lace 
Exopvus. 
XIV, 15 0c see ove 
JosHUA. 
TA sed | fecel, sae 
JUDGES. 
Vii. 5—Joce vee ace 
1 SAMUEL. 
ii, 18 eos eee eee 
Iv. 10, IL see ave 
KV Ke cceillcce)| con 
XXX. 24 oe eco eco 
1 KINGs. 
ik 7 eee eee eoe 
2 K1nGs, 
Wa L279 ces cen) oes 
PsALMs, 
HEXXL. Joe cee one 
XXxiv. II eco 83 eo 
lxxiv. 17 ceo ese 
1xxxix, 15 soe ove 
PROVERBS. 
i 17 wiilaseiniaes 
TL T—T5ecc wee ene 
1X. I-5 see eoe eee 
x. 14 soo ooo coe 
xiii. 20 woo cco ove 
xxix, 15 200 3= ene 
mar, 24.00 ope nee 


INDEX OF TEXTS. 


PAGE 
I 


3 


13 
17 
23 


25 


ECCLESIASTES. pace 


ix. 8 eco eco ooo 
IsAIAH. 
XXVi. 4 e002 = 800 oe 
XXX. 7 seo ove vee 
UFCEEN, nea ie SB 
Lxii, TO cco ces one 
lxiv. 6 ee ee 
lxv. 8 ose eco eee 
JEREMIAH, 
Sa Ae crn co | ce 
99 15 eco eee eee 
NaHuM. 
TES i sesisi seed s\/vew 
MATTHEW. 
Vill. 5-14 eco 8=— ove 
IX. 12, 13 eve see 
XIV. 22-36 .. ove 
Xxi, 15 eS 
XXVi. 8 eco 8=— as 
XXVIi. 25 eco = ose 
Mark. 
1 13 eo «6808 eee 
lv. 35-41 eco §8=— se 
Ve 1-20.00 000 ove 
99 15 se eco ese 
99 30-42 = ove one 
vi. 25 Pre ee 
viii. 1-8 eco 8=— oe 
xX. 16 eco 8=—0e oe 
XVi. 7 seo eee eco 
LUKE. 
Hii, IO-15 00 eee 
X. 42 see coo evo 
XL Q ses ceo oee 
Kili, §-1O nce ace 


e909 


85 


133 


151 
153 


165 


. AGE 
XIV. 18 ssc cco ove 167 
XV. IO woo coo evo 169 
AV TOV ace i esol Kee 
Xie LOM ecs dilseniitawel Ky) 
XXIV. 29 coo §8=— 00 17 

JouN. 
Le: ZO kanaliitawel fees ISO) 
” 48 eco eee eee 186 
v. I-16... ooo coo I9g!I 
vi. 9 erry er 193 

9941-58 wee vee «95 
19 5T eee ose ove QT 
XL 35 eco eon 8=— ae 207 
Kis SZ iioaeilitasel Mace Zod! 
XV Olensiiilcccivasel t 200 
XIXS7/lcesillvessili eso 20S 

AcTs OF APOSTLES. 
di ZT evo vecalianc ae 2Ea 
v.2 ooo eco coo 216 
Viil. 30 ese eco eco 218 
xxiii, 16-24... so 221 

ROMANS. 
XAVs) 02) cee)! eee! /oue))) 227) 


2 CORINTHIANS. 


nity ey Seca 


ze Res UT) 
IX$ D5) cos) can) cos 

GALATIANS. 
VIN ened cee iiiieee 

EPHESIANS, 
Vie Siiivscatilicreirets 
Vi. I eco eco eee 
” 17 ooo coo soo 

PHILIPPIANS, 
HH. 15, 16 10, ae 


300 INDEX. 


1 TimMoTHY. HEBREWS. 


PAGE 


Wi TZ vee ove oe 256) oe ac) aah gees 
2 TIMOTHY. Jams. 
iii. 16 aaa nee Sse 260 iv. 7 eoe eco eee 
TITUS. 1 PETER. 
1 6 eco oo eco 262 i. 19 eco eco ee: 
tii, 3-7 a ee) 264 v. $ a rT) 


2 PETER. 


PAGE 
267 L 19 eee coo ooo 
1 JouN. 
i 7 eon soe eee 
270 iv. 8 er 


ve. 2 I eee eco ese 


REVELATION. 
273 vii. I-17 eco ee 
277 | XXL 17 ose = one ce 


Date Due 
PR 23 eS 


APR ¥ 1938 


=e) |W 


Form 335—35M—9-34—C. P. Co. ‘ 
] 
, 


2 C629 V.5 2993885 


Sch.R 25 


(LIN 


seueiqr] Asueniuf eng 


\w) 
o) 
NO 
BS 
oO 
1 O 
>| 
a © 


